Dear Diary 2: Beyond The Pages
by Sorasgirl333
Summary: Sequel to Dear Diary. Kairi went though a lot as a junior in High School. Everyone is back for another eventful year. This year should be an easy one right? Then how come it seems to be getting worse? Kairi’s POV SxK
1. The Class Project

**Dear Diary 2: Beyond The Pages**

**Author**: Sorasgirl333

**Summary**: Sequel to Dear Diary. Kairi went though a lot as a junior in High School. Everyone is back for another eventful year. This year should be an easy one right? Then how come it seems to be getting worse? Kairi's POV SxK

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also don't own any songs that I mention in here. All credit goes to Square Enix, Disney, and the singers who wrote their songs.

**Authors Note**: IT'S HERE! I'm back with the sequel to Dear Diary! Yay! Lol. I would suggest that if you want to read this story, but you haven't read Dear Diary, then go back and read it, or this might not make sense. I really hope this story does as well as my others. I'm going to try to make these chapters at least a descent size. Well no more waiting! Go read and review! (_Important note at the bottom. Please read_)

**Chapter 1**- The Class Project

"Kairi," I heard my name off in the distance. I pulled the covers over my head and curled up into a ball. My moms voice rang out again. "Come on Kairi. It's your first day back. You have to get ready." I just groaned and tightened my curl. "Okay Sora, I give up. You can try."

"Sure thing Mrs.-" Sora started.

"Oh, call me mom," my mom said. Sora laughed.

"Oh, all right," he laughed lightly. "Thanks," Sora said.

"Not a problem dear. Good luck trying to wake Kairi up," her voice drifted away. I guess she went downstairs. Suddenly the spot next to me on my bed sank a little. I felt a grip on my covers.

"Come on Kairi, get up," Sora said sweetly near my head. He tired to pull the covers down, but I only tightened my grip and kept them where they were.

"I don't want to!" my yell was muffled.

"Kairi, come on!" Sora said.

"Please don't make me go!" I cried from under the blankets.

"Fine then, you'll be home alone. Your parents have to get to work and I'm going to school." I felt Sora get off my bed. I pouted again and uncurled myself. I slowly pulled the covers off of me and sat up. My redish brown hair fell to my mid-back. Sora stood in my doorway with his arms crossed, just smirking at me. "I knew I would be able to get you up."

"Are you trying to torment me?" I asked getting out of bed.

"Never," Sora smiled. He uncrossed his arms and stuck them in his pockets as I stood in front of him. His ocean blue eyes looked into my green-blue eyes. I smiled at him as I reached up and tried to mess up his spiky chocolate brown hair, but he backed up too fast.

"I'm going to get ready," I said gathering an outfit out of my closet and walking into the bathroom. After my shower, I met Sora and my parents downstairs for breakfast.

"So are you ready for your last first day of school?" my mom asked Sora and me.

"Kind of," I answered. I couldn't believe we were all ready in our senior year.

"I am," Sora replied. There was a knock on the front door. I got up and answered it. Namine, my best friend, and her boyfriend, who was also one of my other best friends, Cloud, entered my house.

"Kai, Kai!" Namine said hugging me. Sora walked into the living room with us as Riku, who is Sora's best friend, and Riku's girlfriend, Amanda, walked in. Riku and Sora gave each other high-fives. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie our other three good friends walked in after.

"Dude Sora, it's good to have you back," Riku said.

"Riku, you said that yesterday," Sora laughed. Sora had moved away with his parents to another island. Sora and I had got into a huge argument prior to him moving. We had made up and continued on with our relationship the last day he was here. Sora ended up moving back two days ago into the room next to mine that was up for rent. My parents are letting him live with us for free. Our group hung out yesterday and Sora surprised everyone.

"Well, let's go," I smiled holding onto Sora's hand and getting my bag. Sora smiled and the nine of us walked out onto the sidewalk.

"Hey guys!" I heard from across the street. All of us looked to see Amber and Shawn, the twins, run across the street from Sora's old house in which they moved into at the beginning of summer. Sora still hadn't met them. We all waved.

"Hey Kairi," Shawn said standing next to me. Sora tightened his grip on my hand. I tried not to look at him.

"Hi Shawn," I said. Amber looked at Sora, Shawn, and me.

"Kairi, is he your brother?" Amber asked looking at Sora.

"No!" I replied feeling a little creeped out by the thought. "Sora," I said hugging him, "is my boyfriend."

"Oh, so he's Sora," she smiled and extended her hand toward him. "Hi, I'm Amber and this is my twin brother, Shawn."

"Nice to meet you," Sora said returning her handshake.

"Can we go?" Riku asked. Leave it to Riku to come up with the random interruption. We nodded and walked to school together.

"So what classes do you guys have?" Tidus asked.

"We don't have our schedules yet," Amber said.

"We're in group 'B'," Selphie told them.

"Did you know they changed me out of group 'R'?" Amanda said.

"Why'd they do that?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Well, what group are you in now?" Namine asked.

"Don't know. I have to go to the counselor when I get to school," she replied. We finally arrived at school. People were everywhere! You could tell who were the freshmen because they were in tight-nit groups looking around the school in amazement. The eleven of us (A/N: wow that sure is a lot of people!) walked up the steps of Destiny High School.

"Hey Sora!" A bunch of girls smiled and giggled. Sora smiled and nodded. I wasn't jealous though, Sora wouldn't cheat on me or do anything like that, he promised me that about four months ago.

"Dude! Sora's back!" a group of friends called out.

"I see someone's popular," Amber said. Sora just grinned. Shawn looked around and smirked at every girl he saw. Most of them blushed and started whispering to their friends.

"And I see someone's a lady's man," I joked. Shawn looked at me and winked. Sora wrapped his around me defensively.

"You know it," Shawn said before walking over to some girls.

"He's always been full of himself," Amber said rolling her eyes. She looked over at Sora.

"Sora, just some advice. Watch out for my brother, he's going to try to take over the role as the king of the school. Watch all of the things you care for the most." She looked at me, then back to him. "Well, I better get my schedule." And with that, Amber left.

"Uh… What exactly did she mean by that?" Sora asked. We all shrugged.

"I better go see where I belong," Amanda said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Riku asked.

"You better get to class," she said. They kissed and she left to go to the counselor. Not too long after, the bell rang. We all walked to our first period class. As we entered room 220 on the second floor, Mrs. Davis greeted us to our English class. Our group sat in the middle of the class. Namine and Cloud sat in the third from back seats while Sora and I sat behind them. Riku sat on the other side of Sora, while Selphie sat behind Riku. Wakka sat right behind Sora and Tidus sat right behind me. (A/N: sorry that's really confusing, if you really want to understand the seating arrangements, write it down so it makes sense, it doesn't really even matter too much except for Kairi, Sora and well, you'll see…) Even though Wakka and Tidus are in group 'C' obviously our two groups were combined for this period. The bell rang telling us it was time for school to start.

"Well, lets begin class," Mrs. David said. "Welcome to English. I'm Mrs. Davis," she smiled. The door to the class opened. Amanda and Shawn walked in with what looked like their schedules. I was quite surprised.

"We're in group 'B'," Amanda said holding up her schedule. I looked over at Riku who had a smile on his face.

"Okay then, take a seat then," Mrs. Davis said. They nodded. Amanda sat next to Riku while Shawn walked towards us. He ended up sitting on the other side of me. We soon began class. We had about ten minutes before class ended and we all ready were given an assignment.

"Class, I'm going to pair you up with someone. You're to ask each other a series of questions to your partner and in a week you have to introduce that person to the class using a poster with pictures showing everything about that person. If your partner happens to be someone you know, the easier it'll be, right?" We all nodded. "Okay, here are your partners." She lifted the map up that was covering the whiteboard. On it was all of our names. "Since we have two new students, I'm going to switch one pair around. When I say so, you can get with your partner and you may discuss how you'll work on your project.

"Namine and Kairi, I'm sorry but I'm going to switch you around." Namine and me pouted. "Namine, you'll be with Amanda. Kairi, you'll be with Shawn. Okay go." The whole class began to rearrange. Sora and Riku were partners. Tidus and Cloud worked together and Selphie and Wakka were paired with others they didn't know. Shawn looked over at me.

"So, how about I come over tonight and we can work on our project?" Shawn asked.

"Uh, sure. Six okay?" I suggested. He nodded. Sora caught our attention.

"You're coming over tonight?" Sora asked. We nodded. I leaned over to him and placed my hand on his cheek.

"Invite Riku over," I suggested. Then I lightly placed my lips on Sora's. The bell rang, breaking our moment. I slowly opened my eyes and they met Sora's sweet loving ones. "Let's go," I smiled causing him to smile.

We went onto our second period, which was History in room 300 with group 'V'. Third period was P.E. with group 'P'. Cid was in there. Forth period was in 207, which was Yearbook. It was only our group that was there. During lunch a lot of people came to talk to Sora and ask him all about why he left and how he got back. Firth period was science in room 305 with group 'X'. Last class was math in room 360 with group 'O'.

Sora and I worked on some homework while my parents signed all of our papers that needed to be signed. It was almost six and I was watching TV with Sora in his room. He was slouched against the wall while I used his stomach as my pillow.

"Kairi! Shawn's here!" my mom called from down stairs. I sighed and sat up. I turned to face Sora who held out his hand. I pulled him up. As soon as I did, he pulled me close to him. He ran his fingers through my hair and brushing it behind my ear. Sora lifted my chin up and started to kiss me putting both hands behind my neck. I placed my arms around him.

"Woah, some action going on here!" Shawn said. We broke apart and looked at him. He had a smirk on his face as he leaned against the door with his arms crossed.

"Don't you have anything better to do then to watch people have their moment?" Sora asked. I looked up at him. Sora was glaring. I looked back at Shawn.

"At that moment, no. But right now Kairi and I have to get started with homework," Shawn said slyly.

"Okay, let's get this over with," I said trying to break the tension. I kissed Sora on the cheek and walked into the next room with Shawn. I walked up to my window looking outside. When I turned around, I saw Shawn closing the door. "Uh, what do you think you're doing?" I asked walking over to him.

"I figured if the door was closed, there wouldn't be any distractions," he shrugged. I shook my head and opened the door.

"Uh…" I heard someone say from the hall. Riku was standing there looking at the two of us.

"Sora's in his room," I said.

"Alright…" Riku said looking at us still. After a little while of awkward silence, Riku went to Sora's room.

"So how are we going to do this?" I asked as Shawn sat on the edge of my bed.

"How about tonight, I'll ask you questions, then tomorrow you can ask," he suggested.

"I guess that works. Ask away," I smiled. I handed him paper and a pen.

"Okay Kairi, favorite animal." As Shawn said that, my orange-white Persian cat, Precious, trotted into my room. I smiled picking her up.

"Cats," I said positively. Princess, my golden retriever dog that Sora got me last year, ran in my room, jumping on my bed. "But I like dogs too."

"Can you get it away from me?" he said as Princess kept whacking him with her tail. I put Precious down.

"Come here Princess," I said clapping my hands. Princess jumped off of my bed and jumped at me. "Princess, sit." She sat down.

"Well trained," Shawn said.

"Watch this. Princess wanna see daddy?" I asked. Princess stood up wagging her butt as her tail swished excitedly. Shawn laughed. "Come on Princess."

I held onto her collar and I went to Sora's room. I knocked on the door.

"Come in," Sora voice said from inside. I turned the knob. Princess ran into his room and dove on his bed.

"Woah!" Riku yelled as Princess jumped on him and started to lick his face.

"Come here girl," Sora said pulling Princess to him. She soon was licking him. I laughed.

"Can you watch her?" I said smiling.

"You're leaving her with us?" Riku asked. I nodded.

"Of course, I love her," Sora smiled as he petted her head. She laid her head on his lap.

"Thank you." I smiled walking into my room. I noticed Shawn was standing by my bedside table looking down. "What are you doing?" He turned around reading a small book looking thing.

"You really got knocked out the first day last year?" Shawn asked.

"Huh?" I said walking up to him.

"It says so in your diary," he said holding it up.

"You're reading my diary!" I yelled snatching it. "What are you doing snooping through my things!" I put my diary back.

"Sorry, sheesh. I just wanted to get to know you better," he said putting his hands up in the air.

"You should be sorry," I shot at him. We both sat down. "Okay let's get this over with." He started to ask me questions and I answered them. Finally at eight, he decided to leave.

"So tomorrow, my house, six?" Shawn said at the front door.

"Alright," he opened the door and looked back at me.

"See you tomorrow at school," he said before closing the door. I walked back into my room. I opened my bedside table. I saw the light blue diary Shawn was reading that Sora gave me before I moved away in fifth grade. Next to it was the other diary that Sora gave me when he moved back. I pulled it out and sat on my bed. I ran my hand on the gold cover that had a silver 'K' on it. I flipped it open to the first page.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today was the first day back to school. Amanda's now in group 'B' with us, so is Shawn. We already have homework. We have to make a poster with pictures of things our partners like. My partner for this is Shawn. When he first arrived, there was a lot of tension between Sora and him. During his visit here, I caught him reading my first diary! Gosh, he's so obnoxious! He thinks he's all cool because almost every girl swoons over him. He needs some sort of reality check. I better go._

_Love always Kairi_

In Sora's room, I heard the stereo blasting. I put my diary away and I went to his room. I knocked on the door. I barely heard Sora's voice telling me to come in.

"Think it could be any louder?" I yelled over the music. I turned down the volume.

"Is Shawn gone?" Riku asked.

"Yeah."

"Good," Sora said.

"Tell me about it," I said rolling my eyes. " Well, I'm going to bed."

"This early?" Riku looked at me in shock. I nodded.

"Night guys," I said waving.

"Night," they replied. I walked into my room. I closed my door and quickly changed into my PJ's. I turned off the lights and crawled into bed. My eyes got heavy and I felt really tired. There was a knock on the door. I rolled over and faced my door. It slowly opened and Sora poked his head through the doorway.

"Kairi?" Sora whispered.

"Sora," I whispered back. He walked in and sat on my bed.

"Just wanted to say I love you," Sora kissed me.

"I love you too," I whispered. He got up and waved to me goodnight before closing the door. I closed my eyes and soon I was asleep.

…'It was after school the next day. I went over to Ambers and Shawn's house. Their mom let me in. Shawn's room was Sora's old room, so I knew my way. I walked to his room and knocked on the door. Shawn opened it.

"Hey Kairi," Shawn said.

"Hi." I walked in and examined his room. It was quite similar to Sora's, but just a little messier.

"So, you ready to get started?" He asked closing the door.

"Yep." I sat down in his chair. He handed me some paper and a pen. I started to ask him questions. In between work, we talked about school and his life before he moved here. Shawn was actually a pretty cool guy. Compared to yesterday, I think he changed my perspective on him. I stood by the window and stared outside. It was starting to get dark.

"I better go. It's getting late," I said turning around. He stood up.

"Aw, do you have to?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah," I started to take a step forward when Shawn moved in front of me. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Come on Kairi, don't play games. You know you like me," he smiled.

"Uh, no… I'm with Sora. I don't like anyone but him. Now move." I tried to side step him, but he just blocked me again.

"Come on Kai." He put his arms to the side of me, placing his hands against the wall. He stood closer to me causing me to be right against he wall.

"Shawn, let me go," I said firmly.

"One kiss first."

"How about not." He leaned in towards me. I moved my head to face the wall. I felt his hand go under my chin. He made me look at him. I closed my eyes shut and tired to move away, but I couldn't because his body was right against mine. "No!" I screamed, I felt his face just a few centimeters in front of mine.'….

My eyes jolted open. My heart was racing. I sat up in my bed and looked at my clock. It was only one in the morning. I sighed laying back down. _'It was only a dream._' I closed my eyes and tired to go back to sleep. It was useless. I got up and slowly opened the door. I peeked out into the hallway. The only light was the small air freshener light in the plug-in. I crept out of my room and walked to Sora's room. The door was closed. I opened it quietly. Princess was at the end of his bed. She looked up at me. I walked into his room and closed the door behind me.

My source of light was the bright moon shining though his window. I stood by Sora's bed and looked at his peaceful looking face while he slept. He was gorgeous. He started to stir. Sora slowly opened his eyes and looked at me.

"It can't be morning already," Sora said quietly.

"Well, early morning," I said. He scooted over and patted the space next to him. I laid down next to him and pulled the covers over me. He used his arm to prop up his head.

"What's wrong?" he asked me as he moved my hair that was in my face.

"Just a bad dream. I can't sleep."

"Tell me, what was it about?" he said. I sighed and explained what I dreamt about. "Kairi, I won't let anything like that happen to you. Remember, I'll protect you," he said after I told him. I smiled gratefully.

"Thanks." I snuggled up next to him.

"Now try to get some sleep, okay?" I nodded and closed my eyes. I felt his arm wrap around me. I felt so safe next to him. Before I knew it, I fell asleep again.

**A/N**: Yay! Chapter one is done! Lot longer chapters compared to my other stories huh? I really hope you guys are getting into this story as you did with Dear Diary. Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!

**A/N prt 2**: IMPORTANT! This is **MY** story... **MY** creativity.. If _anyone _copies this story or any of you readers see a remake of this story... PLEASE inform me! Thank you!


	2. Just a Dream?

**KHobsessed-13- **lol funny review : P. Yeah u do know what's going to happen… for the next few chapters… : D

**The Cheat 921-** yeah I'm so glad I got the story up! I thought the due date was never going to come lol. Yeah there is going to be a lot of tension between those 2… for a LONG time.

**D' DayDreamer-** lol I'm sooo glad ur liking my stories! That really means a lot! I'm hoping ur liking this one too! Yeah, it's very romantic, I'm into romantic things like that. Hope you like this chapter : D

**Thesrazrbladekisses- **lol yep another story! And yet another update! The sequel to my favorite story I'm writing yayness! lol

**Lili-Sama-** yeah Shawn was in the last one, but only for a bit. Remember, when Kairi met the new neighbors across the street in Sora's old house? Anyways, yeah no rumors. Rumors will come later in the story, just not about the living arrangements. Lol and thanks.

**Flower Girl-** lol. Yes, much longer chapters in this story. I don't think anything in ur review was weird at all, sounds like something I would write! Lol.

**Openly Oblvion**- lol : D yeah Shawn is really getting on my nerves, heh, wait till u see what happens! Thank you!

**MoonFlow-Kairi**- yep yep I had to write a sequel! Dear Diary was a hit, so what would be better then to make a sequel : P

**BigBoss5**- Anyone who does like Shawn is completely insane in the head. Josh's sister Sarah? Yeah he's a lot like her. Hey least Christy is nice in this story, remember I said she became nice : D heh, can't wait till u find out what's gonna happen in later chapters! Enjoy!

**SLy**- yeah Shawn is the new villain for this story! Just wait till you see what happens! Hopefully this story you'll like just as much as the last one : D

**Sorafanluver**- OH I promise I'll read it! it might take me a bit… (read last authors note) yeah stupid Shawn, gah! If I really knew someone like him I would die, wait.. actually I kinda know someone similar to him… after all some of these ppl r based on real ppl.. hum, anyways thanx for the review!

**Cloudsgirl133-** lol my parents would freaking kill me if they saw Sora and I in the same bed lol, uhh awkward… anyways thanks for the review Nam! Means a lot to me!

**Chapter 2**- Just a Dream?

My eyes started to open. I looked at the wall across the room. It was painted a light green, the same green as Sora's room. I felt the arm that was wrapped around my waist pull back. I turned over while sitting up. Sora stretched while yawning. He looked at me and smiled. I smiled back until I heard movement in the hall. I looked towards the door, which was open. My mom walked into the doorway.

"You two are lucky I trust you guys, but don't make it habit. Well, breakfast will be ready in a bit," my mom said before heading downstairs. Sora and I looked at each other.

"Wow." Was the only thing that came from my mouth.

"Yeah…" Sora agreed. It was silent for about a minute. "So are you taking the first shower?"

"Yeah," I said pulling the covers off of me and standing up. "I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast."

"Okay." I nodded before heading into my room to get today's outfit. After getting ready and Sora took his shower, we headed downstairs for breakfast. My parents, Sora, and I ate together before heading out. We met up with our friends like normal and we headed to school. At 7:50 was when school started. I got out my binder and sat in my seat waiting for class to begin. Sora, Riku, Amanda, and Cloud were all talking. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were talking between each other. Namine was doodling in her notebook. Shawn walked into the classroom and sat in his seat next to mine.

"Hi Kai," Shawn said not even looking at me. I glanced his way.

"Hi Shawn," I replied. He still didn't look at me. The bell rang and Mrs. Davis walked in. We began class. After the bell rang, we all hustled out of the room to our next class. Our group headed to the second building of our school, which were the 300 classes. We got settled in our seats and waited for Mr. Clark to start class. As soon as he walked in, the bell rang.

"Good morning class!" he greeted us, clapping his hands together. The phone rang. "Let me take this call real fast." He walked over to his desk and picked it up. It was a short conversation. "Kairi," he called out looking around the room. I sat up.

"Yeah?" I asked. He looked at me.

"You need to go to the office," Mr. Clark said. My friends looked at me shocked.

"How'd you manage to get into trouble all ready?" Cloud asked. I shrugged and got up. I headed out. I walked out into the warm summers air and headed into the main building. '_What did I do?_' I thought as the office came into view. My stomach turned from my nerves as I opened the door. There were a few people inside. I walked up to the nearest secretary.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Um, I was sent here from Mr. Clark's class." I said nervously. She looked around her desk and read a small piece of paper.

She looked back at me. "Kairi, right?" I nodded. "Okay, go over to the counselors."

"Okay." I walked over to the next room.

"Are you Kairi?" one of the counselors asked. I nodded. "Okay, we just got a new student from one of the other islands. She's in group 'B'. Will you be her student mentor for a week or so?"

"Sure," I smiled feeling quite relieved that I wasn't in trouble. A girl who was about my height walked out of one of the counselors offices. She had honey colored hair that was a little shorter then shoulder length, but had a few strands that shaped her face. Her big gray-green eyes wandered the room until she saw me. It looked like she was kind of smiling, but not at the same time. She had her arms wrapped around what looked like a book and a drawing notebook and held it close to her.

"This is Melissa."

"Hi, I'm Kairi," I smiled. She gave a faint smile back and held out a hand towards me.

"You can call me Lissa." I shook her hand.

"Well, you two better get to class," the counselor said ushering us out the door and into the hall. As soon as Melissa and I were out of the room, the counselor closed the door. We looked around the abandoned hallway.

"Um, that was strange," Melissa said. I agreed.

"So where did you live before?" I decided to ask as we headed down the hall.

"A few islands north."

"Do you like it here so far?"

"I haven't gotten out too much yet."

"I think you'll like it here," I said smiling. She returned the smile.

"Kairi!" I heard someone call from behind. Lissa and I turned around. A tall, tan skinned, dark haired guy was running down the hall towards us. His brown eyes were cheerful looking when he reached us.

"Hey Josh."

"Hey, who's this?" Josh, an old friend of Cloud's and mine from the other side of the island, asked motioning Melissa.

"Josh this is Melissa, Melissa this is Josh."

"Nice to meet you," Josh said shaking her hand. I noticed that she was smiling as she nodded.

"How come you're not in class?" I asked him.

"I just got back from visiting my dad back in Star City. They just said I got switched into 'B'," Josh said.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"We sure have been getting a lot of new students in our group. It must have been from all the seniors we had last year," I said to myself.

"How much longer until class ends?" Melissa asked. I looked at my watch.

"About a little longer the half an hour."

"We better go then," Josh said holding the door for us. We headed to History. I didn't fully introduce Melissa to everyone until lunch. We all got along good. The final bell for the day rang. Everyone headed out front.

"So Melissa, where do you live now?" Sora asked.

"A few blocks that way," she pointed in the opposite direction we all lived.

"I live in that direction too," Josh said.

"Hey guys," Shawn said walking over to us. Everyone waved but me. I just gripped onto Sora. Sora looked at me and wrapped his arms around me. He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

"Don't worry Kai, it was only a dream." I looked at him and gave a small nod.

"Melissa, this is Shawn," I introduced the two.

"Hi Mel," Shawn said. Lissa looked at him with a small glare.

"Don't call me Mel. I hate that name," she said kind of harsh.

"Oh no," Amanda said out of no where.

"What?" Tidus asked. She pointed towards the stairs to the entrance of the school. We all looked up. Christy, who was miss popular last year; Cindy, her best friend; and Sarah, Josh's stepsister were all walking down the stairs.

"Look away," Namine said. We all looked back at each other.

"Hey," I heard Christy say. I turned around. A blond girl was standing by us. Her and Sora used to go out. After they broke up, Namine, me, and her were fighting, but then she ended up moving with her uncle on the other side of the island. Around Christmas, she came back with a new look. Christy put on an act, which I happened to fall for. Namine and me fought because of it. One day Christy kissed Sora and that's how I realized she was trying to get closer to me- to get to Sora. We got her back though and then we really did find her nice side before she moved with her uncle again.

"Hey Christy," I said. She smiled.

"Hey Cloud," Cindy said. Cloud put his arm around Namine.

"Hi," he said. Last year, Cindy tired to make a move on Cloud, but failed because I let Princess chase her away. Sarah avoided eye contact with me. She was the reason why Sora and me broke up last year. Sarah went around saying me and Josh, her step-brother, kissed when Cloud and I went to Star City to visit our friend. Since then me and her haven't talked.

"Shawn!" we heard someone call. Amber was running out of school.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Tell mom and dad I'm going over to Christy's."

"Yeah, Josh, tell mom and dad, too," Sarah said.

"Um, okay…" Josh said.

"Well, we're off. Bye guys," Christy said.

"Bye," we all replied as the four girls left.

"I better be going too," Lissa said.

"I'll walk you home," Josh smiled.

"Okay," she agreed. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"You have my number if you need me right?" I asked.

"Yeah, you gave it to me at lunch." I nodded.

"Bye guys." We all waved as the two of them left.

"Wakka and I better go, too," Tidus said.

"See you tomorrow," Wakka added.

"We better head home as well," Riku said stretching.

"That would be good," Selphie agreed. So the eight of us headed home. Sora and I worked on homework together out in the living room. At about five, Sora's cell rang. He had a short conversation with who ever was on the other line. When he hung up, he looked at me.

"That was Riku. We're heading to the beach to work on that English project and to think of some ideas for songs we can sing," Sora said. I had completely forgot about the band we formed last year for the talent show. We got an offer to sing once a month at school, we decided to have Sora join.

"Who's going?" I asked.

"Everyone. You coming?"

"I can't, I have to meet Shawn for the project at six. Unless you want to see him, I can't make it."

"Of all people, you had to be paired with Shawn," Sora sighed.

"You'll all have a great time. Don't worry about me," I said. "You better get ready."

"Okay." Sora got up and kissed my forehead before heading upstairs. I got up and sat on the couch and started to watch TV. A little later, Sora came downstairs dressed in his swim trunks and a button up shirt. "Well, I'll be home later."

"Have fun! Tell everyone that I'm sorry I couldn't make it," I said.

"Okay, call if you need me. Love you," Sora said opening the door.

"Love you too," I smiled. He smiled back before heading out. I continued to watch TV. Precious and Princess ended up joining me. By the time the TV show I was watching ended, it was six. I got up and turned off the TV and headed outside. I was really dreading going over to Shawn's house. He got me mad by reading my diary and then the dream I had didn't help much. I reached his house and knocked on the door.

"You must me Kairi," Shawn's mom said when she opened the door. She was a beautiful woman who looked exactly like Amber.

"Yep," I smiled.

"Shawn is in his room. It's on the second floor, second door to the right," she said as I walked in.

"Thanks." I started to head up the stairs and went to Sora's old room. I took in a deep breath before I knocked on the closed door. It took a bit for Shawn to answer.

"Hey Kairi," Shawn said.

"Hi," I said walking in. His walls were covered with posters. There were a few clothes, papers and magazines scattered on his floor. Typical guy room. His bed was somewhat made.

"So you ready to get started?" he asked closing the door.

"Yep," I answered, sitting on a chair in his room. He went over to his backpack getting out some paper and a pencil. He handed it to me and sat on his bed. "All right, what's your favorite sport?"

"Baseball," he answered. I wrote it down. "I used to be on the baseball team at my old school."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"That's cool," I smiled. "Okay, favorite food?"

"Hum…" He thought for a second. "Italian."

"That's my favorite too!" I smiled, and he laughed. I continued on with my questions. We both laughed a lot. We actually had a lot more in common than I though. I was standing by the window looking out at the street, trying to reside my laughter. I noticed it was getting a little dark out.

"I better go, it's getting late," I said turning around. Shawn stood up.

"Aw, do you have to?" he asked. Something didn't feel right, my gut was telling me so.

"Yeah." I took a step forward, but Shawn stood in front of me. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Come on Kairi, don't play games. You know you like me." He smiled.

"Uh, no. I'm with Sora. I don't like anyone _**but**_ him. Now move." I tried to side step him, but he blocked me again.

"Come on Kai." He put his arms to the side of me, placing his hands against he wall. I was trapped. He stood closer to me, causing me to be right against the wall.

"Shawn, let me go," I said firmly, wanting to scream.

"One kiss first." It finally clicked. My dream. It was only a dream last night, but it's a dream turned into reality today. My heart started to beat faster. I wanted to yell, move, something, but for some reason, I couldn't.

"How about not." He was leaning in towards me. I moved my head to face the opposite wall. He placed his hand under my chin and made me look at him. I shut my eyes. I didn't want to be here. His body was right against mine, so I couldn't move. I could feel that he was only a few centimeters away from my face. "No!" I screamed.

Shawn's bedroom door flew open. My eyes jolted open. Shawn and I both looked at the door, him still right against me and his hand still under my chin. Sora walked up to us and pulled him away from me. Sora had his left hand clenched around Shawn's collar. Before I could comprehend what was going on, Sora punched Shawn in the jaw. Shawn landed on his bed. I had never seen Sora so mad. He pulled me close to him. Shawn had both of his hands covering the left side of his face.

"Don't you _ever _touch Kairi again!" Sora yelled harshly. He ushered me towards the hall. Sora grabbed the door handle and started to close it. "I mean it."

"You'll be sorry, you stupid-" Shawn was saying before Sora closed the door on him. He put his arm around me and we walked back home. We headed to my room. He sat next to me on my bed. I just stared at the ground in a slight daze. Sora put his hand under my chin and made me look at him.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked examining me.

"No," I said kind of quietly. He pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Kairi," Sora said while hugging me. I hugged him back. "I should have just had you both come to the beach. He wouldn't have laid a finger on you if I was there."

"There's no need to be sorry," I said pulling away from the hug. "Everything happens for a reason. But how did you know I was in trouble?"

"Well, I came home early to keep you company, but you weren't home. So I went across the street to come see you. I was heading up the stairs when I heard you scream. I guess it was luck to stop him before kissing you," Sora explained.

"Thanks Sora." I hugged him again. I didn't want to let him go. He was my comfort zone. I head the door open and close downstairs.

"Kids! We brought home food. Come down and eat!" my mom called.

We met up with everyone at school the next day. I decided to inform them of what happened. None of us saw Shawn. Amber said he wasn't feeling well. However, we all figured he just didn't feel like being embarrassed. We agreed to have our first practice for a song we were gong to sing after school, over at my house. Lissa and Josh were going to stop by to come watch.

When we got home, Sora and I looked around to see if we had enough snacks to feed eleven people. It figures we didn't. Sora said he would go to the store while I waited for everyone to show up. I was putting Princess out back when there was a knock on the door. I closed the back door and answered the front.

"Hey Riku," I smiled. He walked in.

"Hey," he replied. "Everyone will be arriving a little later. I'm just bored out of my mind, so I came early."

"I'm fine with that. Sora drove to the store to get snacks for us."

"Good, cause I am getting a little hungry." I laughed. "Figures."

"We'll, let's go upstairs and wait." We started up the stairs. I could hear my phone ringing in my room. I ran up the stairs to answer it.

"Hey Kairi." It was Blake, Cloud's 13 year old brother.

"Hey Blake."

"Cloud won't let me borrow any video games for me and my friends to play. I called Sora and asked if I could borrow some of his and he said yeah. So is it okay if I come over in a bit to get a few?" he asked.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks Kai!"

"Yep." We hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Riku asked.

"Blake. He's coming over to borrow some video games." There was a knock at the front door.

"Wow, that was fast," Riku said leaning back in the chair in my room and flipping the television on.

"Yeah it was. Be back in a sec," I said walking out of my room.

"I'll be looking at your video games," I heard Riku said as I walked down stairs.

"Come in! It's unlocked!" I called as I turned the corner toward the hallway. The door started to open. "Hey Bla-" I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Hey there Kairi," Shawn said menacingly. He had a few of his friends with him. They all looked intimidating I snapped out of my shock and walked a little closer as the four of them all entered my house, closing the door behind them. I crossed my arms.

"Leave. You're not welcome here," I said.

"That's no way to treat a guest," he said walking up to me. I examined his face. As he got closer, the more a bruise on the side of his face seemed more noticable.

"That was no way to treat a guest yesterday!" I spat at him.

"Oh! Temper, temper!" he said shaking his head. He put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, I like them that way."

"You disgust me!" I said slapping his hand away form me.

"You'll be sorry for what your little boyfriend did to me," Shawn said. I glared at him.

"Don't you touch him," I said in a low voice. He raised an eyebrow.

"Or what?" he said no louder then me.

"Hey Kairi, don't you have… HEY!" Riku was turning the corner of the hall before seeing Shawn and his friends. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Just talking to Kairi here," Shawn said looking from Riku to me and back to Riku.

"Leave her alone," Riku said standing next to me.

"What are you going to do about it?" Shawn and his friends got closer and started to surround us. Riku pushed me behind him. The tension in the air was extremely high. There were four of them and two of us. I was starting to get really scared….

**A/N**: dun dun dun! What's gonna happen? Well if I get enough reviews… maybe you wont have to wait so long… lol please review! Oh also, I might not be able to update right away cuz like I said my stories are somewhat true, if u read Dear Diary remember how Kairi got a 'D' in Math (And parts of both stories are similar to my life), well yeah, I just found out I have a 'D', I hate it! so I might be grounded sorry for the inconvenience.


	3. Enemies

**KHobsessed-13- **lol great review, very nice… woah I was in my own review, crazy lol. Anyways thanks! It made me laugh!

**Lili-Sama- **You'll have to see if something happens between those 2, hee hee. Lol thanks, I was hoping this story would be more suspenseful. Wow, that is kinda weird how u know someone w/the same description as Blake. Well mostly What A Life is more based on real life, but something have come true in all my stories, seems to happen after I write them, crazy if you ask me. And yeah Shawn does suck!

**The cheat 921- **yeah I know cliffhangers suck! I hate them too, I just had to add it for the suspense!

**MoonFlow-Kairi-** lol yeah hey suspense keeps you guys coming! Lol : P

**Absh-** anger management? Lol for who? Anyways thanks for reviewing : D

**Carbuncle x3- **Wow! Crazy those are my favorites too! I'm half Filipino as well! Yeah I do have a 'D' and I'm sad. But I can bring it up I know I can, as long as I know I have my faithful reviewers waiting for me, I know I can do it: D

**D' DayDreamer- **yay you love my story! That makes me sooo happy! Lol glad your obsessed, I'm like that with your story too! Well here's the update!

**SuPaNiNjA4EvAh- **Yeah I described him in the last Chapter of Dear Diary when him and his sister first got introduced, but yeah I fixed it up a bit in this chapter for ya! Lol yeah you do have quite the imagination! Thanks!

**Terra-** Aw thanks! You rock for reading this!

**Thesrazrbladekisses-** lol, you make me laugh. Well here's the update for you: D

**Heartsoblivion-** lol sry! There has to be cliffies! They leave you guys wondering and wanting to read it more! You can't do something drastic, as long as you guys keep me motivated, hopefully it wont take me long! Thanks for the review!

**Flower Girl-** lol, liked ur review. It made me laugh : P. yeah Shawn is a bad guy, gr on him! OH, hee, thanks for that (about WAL)… this story (Dear Diary and this one) is kinda like my made up life, I wish it was like this… even though there r some bad things that happen, life can't be perfect, I won't mind this life if I had friends like this in my story (even though I kinda do already) : D. (What's weird is some things have come true, crazy…) Thanks for both reviews btw!

**Sorafanluver**- Thanks for the review! Hum, this shall be interesting, I'm hoping up update as soon as you can, and I figure you will lol : P.

**J. Tong**- hey thanks for the review! You should have more faith then that, I'm sure by reading more fanfics u'll gain ideas for ur stories, that's how I ended up doing pretty good for a new writer. : D. hope u like this chapter!

**Anonymous**- lol I can see you really like this story… yayness! I'm so glad that you do! I'm really glad you liked Dear Diary also, that makes me really really happy : D

**Authors Note**: Sorry it took so long to update, I was going to post it on my birthday (October 12, yesterday) but I obviously didn't cuz I wasn't having a good day and so yeah so much for a sweet sixteen. Well here's the update since I left a cliffhanger! (finally lol)

**Chapter 3**- Enemies

The front door opened. Everyone, and I mean everyone, walked in. Cloud was helping Sora carry the grocery bags. They all stopped the conversations they were having between each other. Sora and Cloud set the bags down.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked. Blake was standing next to him.

"Didn't I tell you to leave Kairi alone?" Sora asked looking at Shawn as if he were stupid. All of my guy friends walked to the front. Sora, Cloud, Blake, Wakka, Tidus, and Josh were all looking at the six of us, while Namine, Amanda, Lissa, and Selphie all stood behind them. Sora looked around. "Where's Kairi?"

"I'm right here," I said standing next to Riku.

"Don't worry, we didn't hurt your precious Kairi," Shawn said.

"I want you to leave my house," Sora said.

"Okay," Shawn said willingly. I was actually quite surprised and by everyone's expressions, so were they. Shawn looked at me and leaned in by my ear.

"Remember Kairi, I always get what I want," Shawn whispered so low that I was the only one to hear it. I looked up at him- hatred running through my veins. I closed my eyes shut from my anger, but I could still see him inside my head with that evil smirk on his face. His brown spiky hair that was quite similar to Sora's but not at all as perfect, his dark green eyes and fair skin, everything was there in my head. I opened my eyes. He backed up and turned around. Him and his friends walked out the opened front door. I was utterly disgusted by him. When the door finally closed, everyone looked at Riku and me.

"How'd he get in?" Cloud asked. I looked down off to the side in shame.

"I let him in," I said quietly.

"Why'd you do that?" Tidus asked. I looked back at everyone. I opened my mouth to speak.

"We thought it was Blake," Riku said.

"You thought it was me?" Blake said looking shocked. I nodded. "Sorry, Kai. I should have told you I was going to be a little bit."

"Okay, it's over with, let's just start practice," Namine spoke up.

"Good thinking," Amanda agreed. We nodded and everyone started talking.

"Guys set up, we'll take care of snacks," Selphie said. All the girls gathered the groceries while the guys started to walk into the garage. We walked into the kitchen and started unpacking.

"Thanks guys," I said sitting on the counter.

"For what?" Nam asked.

"For changing the subject back there." Namine grinned. I gave a small laugh.

"So what was the big deal about Shawn and the tension between the three girls yesterday?" Lissa asked opening the fridge to put the drinks away.

"Who?" Selphie asked.

"I think their names are Christy, Cindy, and Sarah…"

"Oh…" Amanda, Selphie, Namine and I said in unison. We all exchanged looks.

"You wanna explain Amanda?" I asked.

"Sure," she replied. Amanda began to explain what happened last year with the help of the rest of us. By the time we were finished talking about, Melissa looked stunned.

"Wow. You guys really have gone through a lot," she said.

"Yeah. Too many things happened to us," Selphie said.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Wakka came into the kitchen.

"Hold on, we'll be out in a second," Nam replied. Wakka nodded and left. The five of us gathered the snacks and headed out into the garage. The guys all dove in instantly.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I said trying to shoo them away. "Take your time, I don't feel like returning to the kitchen right away."

"We're hungry," Riku said stuffing his face with chips.

"I could tell," I laughed. "Okay, so what song are we singing first?"

"Well, two we came up with were 'Stars' by Switchfoot and 'Never Had A Dream Come True' by S Club 7," Namine answered.

"Obviously you can tell the girls picked that one," Tidus said eating a cookie.

"Okay, then what did you guys pick?" I asked.

"'Sidewalks' by Story Of The Year," Sora answered.

"I like all three songs," Selphie smiled.

"I think they're all good," Lissa said sitting on the couch we had in our garage. She sat next to Josh and Wakka as she drew in her sketchbook and the guys pigged out. I smiled.

"So we're singing those three songs?" Cloud asked.

"I guess so," I said walking over to the table that had four microphones on it. We all set up our things. Sora and me faced the three on the couch. Wakka agreed to be our manager. Sora pulled the guitar strap over him. I looked back at everyone. Tidus was making sure his drums were placed correctly. Selphie and Amanda were warming up their voices and checking their mics. Namine was strumming some cords on her acoustic guitar while Riku strummed his electric guitar. Cloud was turning his base guitar. Sora looked back at our band too.

"Ready you guys? 'Stars' first," Sora said. The guitars and drums started together. They had a short introduction before the vocals started. Even though the vocals are originally in the base section, Sora was able to hold that originality to it while Selphie, Amanda, and me brought it to an alto pitch with our voices. It sounded pretty decent for our first time singing the song. Practice lasted until eight. We agreed to work on weekends because we actually had time then.

Thursday came. Shawn still wasn't at school. I didn't see him after school either. I wasn't complaining though. Unfortunately Shawn was at school on Friday. His bruise wasn't too noticeable. I sat down in English class, separating him and everyone else. The bell rang to start class.

"Make sure you guys are ready to present with your partner next class," Mrs. Davis said. '_Oh no! I completely forgot._' I looked over at Shawn. He was looking at me. I let out a light sigh before looking back to the front. I thought school was never going to end. I told everyone I would meet them out front while I went to my locker. I was heading up the stairs to my locker when I heard someone call my name.

"Hey Kairi," some girl called. I turned around to see Cindy, Christy, and Sarah walking down the hall behind me. Cindy was waving at me.

"Uh, hi…" I said looking in front of me in the deserted hallway.

"So what's the news between you and Shawn?" Sarah asked walking next to me. I looked at her.

"Nothing," I said truthfully.

"That's not what I heard…" Cindy said almost in a sing-song voice when I reached my locker.

"What do you know?" I asked opening my locker.

"Well, he really likes you," Sarah said. I looked at her as I put my books away.

"No, really?" I said sarcastically rolling my eyes.

"Well, do you like him?" she asked. I slammed my locker shut.

"Are you insane! No way would I ever!" I said outraged.

"Kairi, look who's coming," Christy said looking down the hall. The rest of us looked. Shawn was walking down the hall with his hands in his pockets. He looked so calm and relaxed. If you didn't know his real side, he seemed like a really cool guy. Too bad his personality is well hidden by his good looks.

"Hey girls," he said when he reached us. I looked over at the others. It looked like Sarah was blushing. He looked at me and so did the girls. "Kairi."

"Shawn," I said.

"We still haven't finished the project you know," he said.

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"So when are we going to?" I shrugged. "How about your house in a few hours. Sora can be there if he wants." I looked at him. He was acting as if nothing happened!

"I guess."

"Okay, see you ladies later," Shawn said before heading out. Once we saw him out of sight, the three of them looked at me.

"You're so lucky," Sarah sighed. I raised an eyebrow.

"Right…"

"Can't you tell she doesn't want him around?" Christy asked looking at Sarah. Sarah gave her a faint smile.

"So Kairi how's Cloud?" Cindy asked.

"He's perfectly fine…" I smiled noticing her smile. "with Namine." I finished trying to hold my laughter as her smile fade into a small glare. I saw a small smile on Christy and Sarah's faces.

"Hey Kairi! What's taking you so long?" Sora was walking down the hall towards us. I smiled at him.

"Sorry, I was talking."

"Well, let's go. I don't think you really want to spend your weekend here right?"

"No way."

"Well, let's go then," Sora said reaching for my hand.

"Bye Kairi," Christy said as Sora and I started to walk down the hall.

"Bye," I waved back.

"Why were you talking to them?" Sora asked once Christy, Cindy, and Sarah were out of earshot.

"They asked if I liked Shawn and then he ended up showing up saying we have to finish our project," I said.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said I would never like him and to Shawn, well he said he's coming over later—"

"What!"

"He said you can stick around with us."

"Really?" he sounded just as surprised as me. "Not like he'd have a choice if I wasn't invited."

"Gosh, you guys take forever!" Selphie said as soon as we were outside.

"Sorry, just got caught up," I told them.

"Can we go now?" Namine asked impatiently. I laughed and nodded. We all walked home together. I really didn't want to see Shawn in my house ever again. This could be the last time if we get this project over with. Sora was playing with Princess out back when Shawn came over. I brought him out back.

"So what exactly do we need?" Shawn asked as soon as we stepped outside. Princess ran over to us.

"Get a poster and get pictures describing us," I said. Sora walked up to us and stood by me. "I'll go get the posters out of my room. Try not to rip each other's heads off."

I went inside and went upstairs in my room. I was pulling two poster boards out from behind my bed when I got a phone call. I pulled the boards out and sat on my bed. I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Kai, I'm bored and Namine's out with her mom. Can I come over?" Cloud asked.

"Sure. We're out back," I said.

"Okay." We hung up. I heard Princess barking really loud. I got the posters and headed down stairs and glanced out the back door. I dropped the posters by my feet. My mouth fell open.

"Oh, my, god…" I said just above a whisper. Sora and Shawn were on the ground wrestling. Princess was running around them barking insanely. I ran out there.

"Stop it!" I tried to pull them apart but I wasn't strong enough. "STOP IT!" I screamed.

"What's going on!" Cloud ran out. We managed to split the two up. We were all breathing heavily except Cloud. He was holding Shawn up and I was hold back Sora.

"I'm going upstairs." Sora pulled out of my grip and walked to the back door. He turned around, leaning in as he pointed his finger at Shawn. "Wait, I don't know if I trust you."

"Don't worry, I got it," Cloud said. Sora looked at the three of us before heading inside. Cloud let go of Shawn.

He shook his shoulders to fix up his clothes. "Can we get this over with?" he asked with annoyance in his voice. I headed to the back door with the two of them. I got the posters and went into the living room where the magazines were. We worked on our projects, avoiding the topic of what just happened. At seven we finished and Shawn went home. Cloud and I were on the couch watching TV. Sora never came out of his room.

"Everything seems to be getting out of hand," I said leaning into my hands.

"Yeah and it's all beyond our control," Cloud replied. There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Cloud got up and answered it. Riku walked it.

"Hey Riku," I said.

"Hey," he said looking toward the hall and pointing up stairs. "Is Sora in his room still? Cause he called and wanted me to come over."

"He hasn't come out all night," I responded. I was kind of worried about Sora. He normally wasn't like this.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to him."

"Thanks Riku." He smiled before heading upstairs. Cloud sat back down. We continued to watch TV.

"I better go. Hope things will clear up," Cloud said getting up about an hour later. I stood up too. Riku arrived from upstairs and down the hallway.

"Okay Kairi. I think Sora will come down in a bit," Riku said.

"Thanks guys," I said hugging the both. Cloud and Riku smiled and soon left. I went into the kitchen and started to make some macaroni. After it was done, I put some in a bowl and sat down at the counter. My parents went out to dinner, so they weren't home. I put my hair up and began to eat. I heard footsteps heading down the stairs. I looked up. Sora walked over to me with a small smile. He kissed my cheek. "If you're hungry, there's mac and cheese on the stove."

I looked over at him as he got some for himself. He continued to remain quiet. Sora walked back over towards me and sat next to me at the counter. We didn't look at each other but continued to eat in silence. I didn't know why he wasn't talking to me, but I wasn't going to force him to tell me what was wrong. When Sora's ready to talk, I would be there to listen. I got up and went into the kitchen. I looked at Sora who just finished eating too. We kept eye contact with each other as he made his way next to me by the sink.

"I'll wash the dishes," Sora said taking my bowl and turning on the water. I gave him a faint smile as he washed our plates. My smile got bigger as I dipped my hand in the ruining water and flicked the water at Sora. I started to laugh remembering this happening last year. He ran his hands under the water and splashed me back. He had a big grin plastered cross his face. Sora was getting ready to splash me again, but I ran out of the kitchen.

Sora chased me upstairs. We were both laughing. I ran into my room and jumped on my bed. Sora jumped on after. He wrapped his arms around me. Our laughing started to calm down and it was soon quiet again. He kissed my cheek.

"So…" I said breaking the silence. "What did you and Riku talk about?

"Uh, things," Sora answered. I looked at him. "Well, after talking about what happened."

"What did happen exactly?" I decided to ask.

"Well after you went inside, Shawn and I were looking at the back door. Shawn gave a small laugh and said, 'Gosh, she sure is looking hott in that outfit.'"

"This?" I said looking at my outfit. I was wearing cream-colored shorts, a light pink tank top and black flip-flops. Sora nodded.

"I looked at him. Shawn looked at me. I said, 'I told you not to touch her.' Shawn looked at me in shock. He said, 'I haven't touched her.' We looked at the back door again. That's when I heard him say it," Sora continued. I waited to hear what Shawn said, but he looked really concentrated on his thoughts.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"It was quiet. I looked back at him. That's when he said, 'At least not yet.' I flipped out and tackled him to the ground." It got quiet again. When Sora said that, my stomach turned and I thought I was going to be sick. "Let's go for a walk to clear our minds."

"Okay." We both got up. I looked out the window. It was really cloudy. "It looks like it's going to rain."

"Oh well, it makes it all the more fun," Sora said. We headed downstairs hand in hand. We were getting ready to open the door when my parents walked in.

"I wouldn't suggest you two head out tonight," my dad said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because we saw lightening," my mom answered.

"Aw, that sucks," Sora said.

"I'm sorry you two," my mom said. "Well, I'm sure you'll end up finding something to do." We both nodded. We actually ended up making hot coco and watching a movie in the living room. Soon thunder could be heard outside with a few flashes of light. Sora and I turned around to look out the window behind the couch. The rain slowly rolled down the glass. I leaned over and laid my head on Sora's shoulder as we watched the rain pour out of the cold gray sky.

**A/N**: yayness Riku and Kairi didn't get hurt : D. I keep hearing the rumor that it's not 'allowed' to be able to reply to reviewers, which I think is stupid. But if it is true I don't really want my account suspended or deleted or whatever they're going to do. So if you really want me to reply to your question or something in a review, leave an e-mail address or IM me or even e-mail me if you want (my e-mail info is in my profile) I'll be happy to reply to you guys : D but since I'm not replying in my stories anymore, I still thank you for reviewing… while we're on the topic of reviewing…. Please review! Hee hee thanks guys!


	4. Kind Hearted

**Authors Note****:** Yeah, so that rumor is true about shout outs to you guys. Grrage on it! I think you should all sign the petition on Carbuncle x3's profile, that way writers can reply to reviewers! Anyway, I'm glad for all the reviews I got, even though I got less then normal, my last 2 chapters I had 14 per chapter, chapter 3 however was only 10, come on guys, I know you can do better then that! Anyway, I would like to thank… **KHobsessed-13**, **Lili-Sama**, **Sorafanluver**, **Absh**, **D'DayDreamer**, **Carbuncle x3**, **thesrazrbladekisses**, **Sorastruelove78**, **MoonFlow-Kairi**, and **Flower Girl** You guys rule! Thanks for reviewing!

**Chapter 4**- Kind Hearted

"Sora!" I jumped on Sora's bed. It was eight in the morning on Saturday. He was still sleeping. Usually I would let him sleep, but I figured it was it was a perfect day for the two of us. He groaned from under the covers. "Come on! We're going out today, just the two of us!"

"What time is it?" I heard him ask.

"Uh, it's a little after eight," I said looking at my watch.

"It's way too early to get up on a weekend."

"Please!"

"I'm staying in bed. Wake me up in about an hour."

"Aw Sora. It'll just be the two of us today. My parents just left for work," I pouted pulling on his covers. I kissed his cheek. "Please?" I whispered in his ear. He pouted. "Fine. Go ahead, sleep." I got up and went into my room and pulled out my jacket that Sora gave me last year. I put it on and went downstairs.

Precious and Princess were downstairs. I picked up Precious and went into the kitchen where Princess followed. I got out some cat food along with dog food and put the food in their separate dishes. They both started to eat. I opened the pantry and got out a chocolate muffin. I went into the living room and stood by the door picking at pieces of my muffin before eating it. Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Soon Sora walked into the living room fully dressed.

"I knew you'd get up," I said with a smirk.

"I can't believe I'm up," Sora said taking my muffin and started to eat it.

"Hey!" I said trying to get my muffin back. He ate a little more before giving it back. I smiled and finished off what was left.

"Okay, so what do you want to do today?" Sora asked.

"Let's go for that walk." I took a hold of his hand and opened the door. It was still really cloudy out. The two of us walked hand in hand down the quiet deserted roads. It was so peaceful. Raindrops started to fall around and on us. The rain started to come down a lot faster and with in minutes, our hair and clothes were sopping wet.

"Come on," Sora said pulling me into a run down the street. Our feet splashed into puddles as we made our way to a near by park. Once we got there, we spun in a circle. I laughed leaning back as we spun around. He was laughing too. Sora pulled me close to him once we stopped. Both of our hands were at our sides latched together. He kissed the tip of my nose. I smiled at him. "Look," he pointed behind me.

Five little kids probably between the ages of six and seven were chasing a black lab puppy around the park. They were all laughing. It seemed as if the pouring rain didn't faze them. Soon the puppy spotted us. It had a tennis ball in its mouth and that's why the kids were chasing the pup. It ran over to us with the kids close behind. It dropped the ball at our feet and tried to jump into our arms wagging its tail. Sora bent down picking up the tennis ball and petting the dog.

"Is this yours?" Sora asked the little kids holding up the ball. One of the little boys nodded. "Here," Sora handed it to him. He smiled.

"Thanks mister!" The boy said. Sora laughed standing up.

"Would you guys like to play a game?" Sora asked. They all nodded. I smiled at all of them. "Okay, we're going to play tag. Me and my beautiful girlfriend, Kairi, here, will be it," Sora said.

"Okay!" they all exclaimed happily.

"We'll count to five to give you guys a start," I said. "Ready? One, two," The all started to run. "Three, four, five!" Sora and I ran around the park chasing them. The puppy ran around parking excitedly. We had a blast chasing the little kids around. After about half an hour of running around, Sora and I were tired. Sora laid on his back looking at the sky while I gathered up the kids.

"You guys want to do something really fun?" I asked looking at all of them.

"Yeah!" they all chimed energetically. I smiled.

"Okay, when I say go, I want you all to jump on Sora." They all looked back at Sora and giggled. I lowered my voice. "Go!" They all ran over to Sora screaming and laughing. Sora didn't even see it coming. Everyone piled on top of him. "Tickle him!"

"Ah!" he yelled. I was laughing so much that I could hardly breathe. Sora stood up and scooped up some of the kids. "I'm going to get you!" They all screamed. We continued to chase them. Around noon, their parents called them in for lunch. We all said our goodbyes while Sora and I continued on our walk. The sunrays finally started to warm the islands again.

"I never knew you were so good with little kids," I smiled holding Sora's hand. He looked at me with a warm smile.

"Your fantastic with them too," Sora said. He let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I wrapped my arm around his waist. We continued on our journey.

"Hey guys!" I heard someone call after a few streets down. Under a tree in front of a cute house sat Lissa with a book and her sketchbook.

"Hey!" we replied walking over to her.

"What are you up to?" I asked.

"Oh, just reading," she replied.

"What's the sketchbook for?" Sora pointed to her little book next to her.

"Well, if there's something important in my story, I draw it out," Lissa said.

"Very clever," I smiled. She smiled back.

"So what are you two up to?" she asked flipping to a new page in her sketchbook and scribbling in it.

"We're just taking a break from the reality of school," Sora answered. Lissa and me laughed. Melissa continued to draw. "What are you drawing?"

"Oh, just a picture." Her pencil moved frantically across the paper. It was silent for a while.

"Can we see it?" I decided to ask. Melissa stood up closing her notebook and picking up her book.

"Eventually," she replied simply. "I'll talk to you guys later." She turned around and went inside. Sora and I looked at each other and shrugged. We continued on our way. The sun was fully showing and the sky was finally the brilliant blue it normally was. Sora and I walked quite some way when I noticed something that really caught my eye.

Down the street was an elderly care center. Quite a few of them were outside. Most of them were either in a wheel chair or using a walker. Some nurses were helping some stretch out their legs. I felt so bad for them. They once were young and carefree like us, but now they could hardly move. I bet most of them were there because either their family couldn't take care of them or they had no family. I'm sure a lot of them were quite lonely with hardly anyone to talk to.

"That's a depressing site," I heard Sora say next to me. I didn't look at him but I continued to look in the direction of the center.

"It sure is," I agreed.

"We should go visit one day," Sora said. I looked up at him with a smile.

"I think some of them would appreciate that." I said.

"Hey! Wasn't expecting to see you guys!" someone called from behind. Sora and I turned around. Riku and Amanda were walking towards us.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" I asked.

"Oh, we're just going to get something to eat," Amanda answered.

"Join us," Riku said waving us to him.

"I am kind of hungry," Sora stated.

"When aren't you hungry?" I asked looking at Sora and Riku. The four of us laughed.

"Well, let's go," Amanda smiled. The four of us headed a couple blocks down. We ended up going to a fast food restaurant. As soon as we walked in, someone called to us. Talk about a lot of encounters, but then again when you have a big group of friends, it's kind of hard not to run into someone every now and then.

"Namine, Cloud what are you up to?" I asked as we sat next to our friends.

"Eating," Cloud said pointing around him.

"Obviously." Amanda rolled her eyes but laughed.

"We'll go order the food," Riku said as him and Sora got up. We nodded.

"So any news?" Namine asked. Amanda shook her head.

"Well, Sora and Shawn got into a fight," I brought up.

"What!" Nam and Amanda said in unison.

"Yeah, it was crazy," Cloud added. Nam looked at him.

"You didn't tell me?" she said.

"Well, I didn't want to spread it around," he replied shrugging.

"Who else knows?" Amanda asked.

"Riku and I'm sure all of Shawn's friends," I answered.

"Riku knew?" she sounded shocked. I nodded. "Hum… well anyway, I'm sure the whole school knows by now because of Shawn."

"Very true," Namine agreed. "So what happened?" I decided I would tell them, I mean, my best friends did have a right to know. By the time I was finished, Riku and Sora came back.

"Wow…" Amanda said. The boys sat down.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sora asked.

"Nothing," the four of us replied. Riku and Sora looked at each other.

"Right…" Riku said as he began to eat.

"New subject!" I said. They agreed. We talked about our classes and how we already hate having homework until we were done eating. Around two was when Sora and I left and headed home. Princess greeted us at the door.

"We haven't taken her for a walk today. Might as well," I said hanging up my semi-wet jacket and getting her leash.

"Hey girl, wanna go for a walk?" Sora asked Princess. She barked and wagged her tail excitedly. I latched her leash onto her collar. "I'm going to get a Frisbee."

"Okay, let's go," I said once Sora got the Frisbee. We headed outside. Princess started to run. We ran behind her all the way to the beach. As we reached the beach, I unhooked her leash and Sora threw the Frisbee. Princess ran at top speed to catch the flying toy. She caught it in midair and ran back to us. We played Frisbee for over an hour before we headed back home.

It was fantastic to be able to spend a weekend with Sora without having to worry about school or the people there. Sadly all good things come to an end. Monday was here.

"So are you guys ready to present?" I asked my friends before school started.

"I think we are," Amanda said and Namine nodded.

"It's not that hard," Lissa responded. Her and Josh ended up being partners since they entered late.

"Well, I think you were all paired with people you got a long with," I mentioned.

"Sorry you had to deal with him Kairi," Tidus said. I shrugged.

"'Least this is the end of working with him." As I said that, the bell rang.

"Well, let's get this over with," Cloud said as we headed to English. The class gathered together and not too long after, class began.

"Well, I hope you're prepared to present. I'll give you all five minutes to get with your partner to discuss how you'll present. Okay, go ahead," Mrs. Davis said. The whole class started to rearrange to meet up with their partner. I turned to my left. Shawn looked at me.

"You going first or me?" He asked.

"I guess I'll go." He nodded. It was quiet between us. '_Awkward silence…_' I thought looking at everyone talking. I half expected Shawn to say something else, but he never did. After what I'm guessing was really five minutes, Mrs. Davis got our attention.

"Okay, our first group is…" She looked at her grade sheet. "Namine and Amanda." I looked in front of me and saw the two of them go up. They faced the front of the class and both help up fully decorated posters and began their presentation. At the end we all clapped as they sat down. More of our classmates went up. Eventually, Shawn and I were up. We walked to the front.

"This is Shawn," I said pointing to him. He smiled slightly before I continued. "He lived on a different island up until about a month ago. Shawn has a twin sister named Amber. They've been close for quite some time…" I continued on describing him and used my poster as my reference. It was soon Shawn's turn.

"This here, next to me, is Kairi," Shawn looked at me and I smiled. "Kairi was originally born in this city but moved to Star City on the other side of the island, where she met one of her best friends Cloud. They moved here over a year go. Kairi has an outgoing personality. She's very kind-hearted, yet has a very big temper." I looked at him. He looked at me and smiled. "But she's all good natured. Her and Sora have been going out for a while. He's very protective over her and would do anything to make sure she's okay. Sora is a good boyfriend for Kairi."

I was quite surprised to hear him say that and by the looks on my friend's faces, they were dumbfounded too. _'Why is he being nice? I'm not going to fall for this._' I thought to myself as he continued. I don't want to be vulnerable like I was when Christy was like this last year. Shawn's going to do something. I could feel it. But what? Before I knew it, I heard clapping. I walked back to my seat and watched the rest of the presentations.

Before we knew it class was over. We went to History, P.E., then yearbook. I found it awesome to be able to have a class by ourselves. We sat in our desks and waited for Mr. Tiltmen to start class. Finally the bell rang and we began.

"Today we'll be discussing what theme we'll make the yearbook and what order we can place events and pictures," Mr. Tiltmen said. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"How about under the sea?" One of our classmates asked.

"Love?" Another suggested. '_Typical for freshmen_.' I rolled my eyes. (**A/N**: no offence to my freshmen readers, when you get to be a sophomore you'll understand!)

"How about space? Our main heading on the cover can be 'Our minds and spirits are as endless as the universe.'" We all turned to see who said that.

"What do you guys think of Shawn's idea?" Mr. Tiltmen asked. '_Why's he being so, oh I don't know, just not like the normal him?_' I actually really liked the idea though and so did the rest of the class. "So we'll have our theme as space." Mr. Tiltmen wrote on his paper. "Okay, I'll let you all discuss what we can put through out the yearbook."

"Any one have any ideas?" I asked facing my friends. They just looked at me. I looked at all of them.

"You guys can move around the room you know," Mr. Tiltmen said. We all got up and started to wander the class. Practically everyone went to look at the old yearbooks.

"Kairi," Lissa said from her desk. I turned around. She motioned me to come to her.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I want to show you something. You have to tell me your honest opinion." She opened her sketchbook and started to flip through the pages. She finally stopped and tilted it for me to look.

"Oh my gosh!" I gasped. Melissa had drawn a picture of the group in perfect detail. We were all in our own surroundings but we all blended into one picture. Namine was leaning against the lockers talking to Cloud. Amanda and Riku were under a tree looking off into the distance. Selphie had her hands behind her back and smiled wide. Tidus and Wakka were giving each other high fives. Josh was sitting at a desk looking out the window. I came across Sora and me. We were standing side be side, Sora's arm was around my shoulders and we were smiling. I looked up at her. "When did you draw this?"

"Well, all different times. I drew each person when it seemed to show their real side the best," Lissa answered. '_So that's why she was drawing so frantically when Sora and I saw her_.' I though. "So is it bad?"

"Are you kidding me! This is so cool!" I smiled. I looked at the picture again. "Wait a second, where are you?"

"I just wanted to see if I could fit in before I added myself to your group."

"Of course you fit in!" She smiled at me.

"Thanks Kai."

"Not a problem." I hugged her. "I think you should add it to the yearbook. You know under the yearbook staff page." She looked at me wide-eyed.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked breathlessly.

"No…"

"I'll think about it but I don't know…" Lissa said putting her sketchbook away.

"Trust me, everyone will love it," I said reassuringly. She slowly lifted her head to look at me.

"I do trust you."

"Well, what are we going to do this weekend?" Cloud asked as we headed down the stairs on Friday.

"Practice is Saturday," Tidus brought up.

"Do you guys have any thing planned this weekend?" Sora asked.

"No," everyone replied.

"Why don't you guys spend the night tonight and tomorrow?" Sora suggested.

"All of us?" Amanda asked. I looked at Sora who was nodding.

"Hum, this shall be an interesting weekend," I said.

"Well, just come over if you can," Sora said. "See you guys in a while." We all started to go our separate ways.

"Hey guys," someone called. We all turned around to see Christy walking over to us. "We're throwing a party Saturday night. We'll be at Shadow Beach at seven. Come if you want."

"Um, will it be like the last party at that house?" Wakka asked.

"My cousins?" she asked. We nodded. "No, we're going to make sure no drugs or alcohol will be at this party."

"That's good," Namine said.

"Well, I hope you guys can go. I'll talk to you later," Christy waved good-bye.

"I think I'll go," I said. It did sound fun knowing there weren't going to be any rock hard partying like last year.

"We better go," Josh said. We once again headed home.

"You know asking everyone over was completely random right?" I looked at Sora.

"Yep," Sora grinned. I laughed. The two of us went home. We both headed to our rooms. I changed into some shorts and a baby-tee. I walked down the stairs and got some water. Princess followed me into the living room. Precious was sun bathing in the window. I sat against the couch on the floor and turned on the TV. Princess laid in front of me. I heard Sora plying his guitar upstairs. The front door opened.

"How as school?" my dad asked.

"Hey dad, eh, okay," I smiled. My mom walked downstairs into the living room.

"Sora just told me about the sleep over," she said

"It's okay right?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm trusting you guys. Don't do anything you might regret," my mom said.

"Mom!" I groaned. "We're not like that!"

"I know. Just reminding you, that's all." She kissed the top of my head. I smiled. I loved my parents. They were so cool.

"Hey Kai! Riku and Cloud called! Those two, Namine, and Amanda are coming," Sora said walking into the living room.

"When are they coming over?" I asked. He shrugged. Suddenly both of our phones rang. Sora and I answered. "Well, Josh and Lissa can come," I said after hanging up.

"So can Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie." Sora said.

"Your father and I can run to the store to get food for you guys and pick up pizza on the way back," my mom said.

"Sounds good," Sora and I said in unison. We smiled at each other.

After my parents left, Sora went upstairs to get his guitar. He sat in front of me on the couch. He began to tune his guitar, then began the steady rhythm of a Ryan Cabrera song, 'It's You.' I looked at him and smiled. Sora looked at me and we both started to sing.

_Another night goes by without sleepingCause I know I won't wake up next to youAnother life goes by without dreamingAnd I can't help but think that mine will too_

_I'm standing before youWith this label on my headI'm pleading before youFor you to understand_

_Baby it's youWhen I look up in the sky I see youThen I turn and close my eyes and it's youWhen I'm sitting all alone in my roomEverything reminds me of you_

There was a knock on the door causing us to stop.

"We sounded good," Sora smiled as I got up.

"Yeah." I let out a small laugh as I opened the door.

"Let's get the party started!" Tidus yelled as he walked into the house. Everyone followed close behind.

**Authors Note**: Just for any updates on all the stories I'm writing, like posting new stories, or if I know an update date for one of my stories, or even ideas for a story, I'll be posting it on my profile, so if you want to know something, check it out. Thanks guys and hope to get reviews!


	5. The Full Weekend

**Authors Note****: **you know what I think I'm gonna ignore the comments to reviewers thing, even though it is true, I still haven't gotten into trouble (knock on wood), and I want to give you all personal notes for reviewing, it's only fair right? Exactly.

**KHobsessed-13**- lol very nice review. I love skit things, you guys are very creative with them and they always make me laugh. Thanks! Plus I love longer reviews : D.

**Carbuncle x3**- Well even though it's not only on yours, I need to get it out to my reviewers and plus ur the only one I know who has it lol. Lol I like ur little quote thing you put in ur signature thingy. Yes you have reviewed all the chapters I've posted so far, thanks for that! Thanks for that complement on my story! Yeah, like I commented in ur myspace, u do change it a lot. Yes, ur catching on, the smallest details are a big part in my story. Specially most of the songs I pick (hint, pay attention to the songs I list, not all will be important –that's to throw you guys off-, but most of them are) Thanks for the long review, I love long reviews!

**ChibiVixen**- I love fluffyness! Makes stories all the better! Lol yeah I had to add that freshmen comment. I actually never had to deal with freshmen at my school cuz my school system is weird and we have sophomores-seniors in my high school. So right now I have to deal with the sophomore class and it's a pain… no offence though! I love all my sophomore friends, I just hate the really stupid ones lol. You seem like a cool one : D. Aw, you hate Josh? Why do you hate him! I could understand if you hate Shawn, but Josh is on our side (the good guys). Well, I'm sure you have ur reasons, thanks for reviewing!

**AN ony mous**- lol thanks for that complement! Much appreciated. Lol thanks for offering the candy anywho. : D.

**MoonFlow-Kairi-** I'm so glad you love this story! That makes me happy to hear that. I'm trying to make sure this story is going to be as good as the original and so far it's working, yay! Yeah, I figured Tidus would be the most likely to holler that when there's a party going on lol.

**D'DayDreamer-** I'm glad it's getting better! I'm hoping so: D. Yeah Shawn is acting weird, and there's a very good explanation why he is too… it'll just be a while before you guys find out! Thanks for the review!

**Axel**- Thanks for the review, and I will.

**BigBoss5**- Yeah something is up w/Shawn. What is it though? Hum, you'll have to read to find out. Lol. There might be more fights, but there might not…. : P. Thanks for reviewing my other chapters too.

**SexyKairi**- lol okay, I've updated… -waiting for prizes- nah, lol just kidding! You can have the story for free : P

**Sorastruelove87**- Hopefully the suspense didn't officially kill you… obviously it didn't if you're reading this. Lol. Just kidding. My updates come at about a week, but I'm kinda slacking a bit so it might be a little over a week for later chapters.

**Lili-sama**- It's okay that you didn't leave a fancy long review. I'm okay with you just giving recognition for reading the chapter. Thanks!

**sorakairi forever-** I really am thankful for that long review. I love long reviews. Thanks for e-mailing me back too!

**PristessgurlYuna2005**- Thanks for reading all of Dear Diary. I'm hoping you'll enjoy this story too! Thanks for the previous reviews for DD.

**Chapter 5**- The Full Weekend

"Ugh, I'm so full!" Josh complained. We had just finished five large boxes of pizza between the eleven of us and my parents. It's amazing how much food eleven teenagers can consume. We were all scattered in the living room complaining about how much we ate. I was pouting.

"We're just as full as you, you don't have to complain the loudest," Riku said leaning against the couch. Sora and I were laying on the couch together. I lifted my head from Sora's shoulder. I took one of the throw (**A/N**: aw how convenient lol) pillows and threw it at Riku. "Hey!"

"That's what you get," I smirked. Everyone laughed. There was a loud burp from the other couch. We all averted our attention to where Cloud and Namine were. Namine was looking at Cloud.

"Cloud!" She sounded shocked.

"Heh, excuse me?" Cloud smiled. We all laughed again.

"So what are we going to do tonight?" Selphie asked.

"What do you guys want to do?" Lissa asked.

"Well, we can get started with practice early, so tomorrow is free," I suggested.

"Sounds good," Tidus agreed. They all nodded. We got up and headed into the garage. Like normal, Lissa, Josh, and Wakka sat on the couch while the rest of us set up. We soon began practice. Finally after a couple hours, we decided to head to our rooms.

"So what should we talk about?" I asked the girls.

"How about boys!" Selphie exclaimed. We all laughed. "Okay, so who do you guys like?"

"Dumb question Selphie," Amanda answered.

"Well duh! You like Riku, Namine likes Cloud, and Kairi likes Sora," Selphie said rolling her eyes. "But there are two more girls here."

"Okay then, who do you like?" Namine asked.

"Well, I like this kid in our History class," Selphie began. "His name is-" She was cut off. We all changed our attention to the open door. The guys were walking by. They looked at us funny.

"Yes?" I asked staring back.

"Just walking by to go downstairs," Cloud said.

"Uh, the stairs are by Sora's room, you're walking the wrong direction."

"We're just going to check for movies first," Tidus said.

"Yeah remember Kai, we put them in the guest bedroom," Sora said.

"Okay then," I replied. The guys continued to the extra room. "Anyways…. As you were saying Selphie."

"The guy in our History class, his name is Irvine," Selphie sighed dreamily.

"Irvine, that 'cool and collective' one who's in the corner of the class in group 'V'?" Namine asked. Selphie nodded. We all started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Selphie asked.

"Selph! You're so… bubbly! How would that one work?" I asked still laughing.

"Don't worry, I'll break his shell," Selphie grinned.

"So Lissa, who do you like?" Amanda asked.

"Me?" She looked at us shocked. We nodded. "Oh, I don't know…"

"Oh come on Lissa, you can trust us! Remember Yearbook?" I brought up. It took her a second but she nodded.

"Okay, don't laugh. I like-" she began before the guys passed by again.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We're heading downstairs now," Josh said. They waved. We remained silent until we heard their footsteps heading down the stairs.

"Okay continue," I said to Melissa. She took a deep breath.

"I like…" she stalled for a bit. "Josh."

"Aw!" We all exclaimed Lissa blushed.

"You two would be so cute together!" I smiled making her blush more.

"He's so perfect. He's smart and good looking," Lissa said looking slightly flustered.

"If you want, I could hook you two up," I winked.

"Hook who up?" Wakka asked. We looked at the doorway. All the guys had another slice of pizza.

"I thought you guys were downstairs?" Selphie asked.

"We were," Tidus said.

"And I thought you guys were full?" Amanda brought up.

"We got hungry," Riku smiled taking a bite of pizza.

"Obviously," I laughed.

"Well, we're going to go look for movies," Sora said as they all walked past my room again.

"I thought you just did that!" I called after them.

"We want to watch something else!" Sora yelled back.

"Well, before we were interrupted, I was saying I could hook you two up if you want," I said to Lissa.

"Thanks Kai," she smiled. I smiled back. We eventually grew tired. The girls gathered blankets and pillows and agreed to sleep on the floor. I was picky when it came to my bed sharing.

"Of course you'd share your bed with Sora and vise-versa!" Namine smiled after closing my door.

"Gosh you two…" Amanda smiled too.

"We see what's going on," Selphie winked.

"I can't believe you guys," Lissa laughed.

"You guys!" I was flabbergasted. "Sick minded friends I have here!" I threw a pillow at them. We all ended up laughing.

"Us? It's you and Sora!" Amanda cracked up laughing. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Night guys," I said leaning over to turn off my light.

"Aw, we're just kidding Kairi!" Namine smiled.

"Night guys," I repeated.

"Night Kai!" They said as I turned off the lights.

"Maybe we're not kidding," I heard Selphie say.

"Selphie!" I yelled. The girls laughed again.

"Night!" They said unison. I rolled over to my side. It wasn't like I didn't want to do anything with Sora… I mean, we are teenagers with raging hormones, but we knew better than that right now. I tried to sleep but it just wasn't working. It was a little past midnight and I was in a light sleep. I heard rustling on my floor, but I didn't bother to get up. Soon my door opened. I reach over and turned on my light. The four girls had their pillows and were getting ready to leave my room.

"Where are you guys going?" I asked sitting up.

"We couldn't sleep, so we were going to go into Sora's room," Namine answered.

"And you weren't going to tell me?"

"We thought you were sleeping," Lissa said.

"I couldn't sleep either," I got up and grabbed my pillow. I smiled. "Let's go." They smiled back. The five of us walked to Sora's room. I slowly opened the door. It was pitch black.

"What are you guys doing in here?" I heard Cloud whisper as soon we closed the door.

"Couldn't sleep," Nam whispered back.

"I couldn't either," I heard six voices reply.

"In that case…" I flipped the light switch on. All the guys groaned and hid under their blankets.

"Just because we weren't sleeping yet doesn't mean we haven't been trying. Now turn off the light!" Riku complained.

"Sheesh, you guys sure are grumpy when you're tired," I said turning off the light. The girls agreed.

"We'll leave if you want," Lissa said opening the door again.

"No, you guys can stay," I heard Sora say from under his covers. Lissa closed the door. It got quiet. The five of us stood by the door, unsure of what to do.

"Well, are you guys going to stand there the whole night?" Wakka asked.

"Well, where are we supposed to go? You guys are practically covering up the floor," Amanda pointed out. "Plus, it's kind of too dark to see if we'll step on you."

"Okay, is there any ways you guys can get light in here so they can see but won't blind us?" Tidus asked.

"I got an idea," Sora said. I heard his mattress as Sora shifted his weight. Soon there was shuffling by his blinds. The blinds lifted and the moons light hit us. We all glanced around at each other.

"Better?" Sora asked. The ten of us nodded. "I guess pick your spot." We started to scatter in his room. Of course I went to Sora's bed. He scooted against the wall. I heard snickering of laughter from the girls.

"Oh, guys! I thought we were done with this discussion in my room hours ago?" I complained. Soon the snickers turned into laughing fits. "I don't see how it's so funny."

"What were you guys talking about?" Josh asked. Sora and I sat up to see everyone sitting up too.

"Oh, we were just picking on Kai about how she won't share her bed with anyone but Sora," Selphie laughed. Soon the guys were laughing. Sora let himself fall back into bed.

"We were saying the same to Sora!" Riku laughed.

"Ha, ha, ha," I said sarcastically. "Can we go and get some sleep now?" I asked.

"Sorry Kai, yeah," Namine said as her laughter faded. Soon we were all laying down and it was quiet. "Night."

"Night," We all replied. Eventually we fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, it was silent except for a few rustling noises on the ground. I kept my eyes shut. There was a soft whack below followed by someone yelling.

"Ow!" Cloud said. I opened my eyes and looked at the floor. Cloud was rubbing his head. Riku had his arm stretched out by him. He was still asleep but everyone was waking up. Sora sat up and looked around.

"What happened?" he asked sleepily.

"Riku just smacked my head when he rolled over," Cloud said glaring at him.

"He's really restless," Amanda said looking at him too.

"Wake up Riku!" Namine yelled throwing a pillow at him. It didn't have any effect on him.

"Amanda, wake him up," Josh said.

"Riku," she said in his ear. "Wake up!" He didn't budge.

"I don't think he's going to wake up," Selphie pointed out.

"I know…" I smirked leaning over the edge of the bed by Riku's ear. I got really close. It was silent between us when I did it. "RIKU!" I practically screamed in his year. He bolted up like a spring.

"Wah! What! What happened!" he said frantically. We all busted out laughing.

"Ahahaha! That was great!" Tidus said laughing hysterically.

"Urgh!" Riku said irritated.

"Sorry but we had to!" I laughed.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he said hiding under the blankets.

"Aw Riku, you know we love you," Amanda said.

"Okay, I think we're picked on him enough. Let's go out to lunch," Sora said smiling.

"Lunch?" Wakka repeated.

"Yeah, it's almost noon." Sora pointed to his clock. We all got up and got dressed. The eleven of us headed to a small restaurant to eat. After lunch we walked around town until three when we decided to get ready for the party. With eleven teenagers hogging up two bathrooms at once we knew it would take three hours. Finally after our showers and after getting ready, we heard downstairs.

"Where you kids off to?" my dad asked when we entered the living room.

"Going to a party at Shadow Beach," I said.

"Okay, but I want you guys home before eleven, okay?" my mom said. "No exceptions."

"Got it." I smiled and walked out with my friend. We headed to Shadow Beach, which was about seven blocks away. As we reached the beach, we saw lights and hundreds of people dancing to the music. There was a huge bon fire. No one seemed drunk or high, just a little crazy, but that wasn't anything different from school.

"I think this is actually going to be a fun party," Sora said. We agreed.

"Hey, you made it!" Christy smiled walking over to us. "Drinks are by the DJ, we have people over there to make sure no one puts alcohol over there. Well, enjoy!" We headed into the large group of teenagers. "Kairi." Christy held me back as everyone got lost in the crowd. I looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Watch out, Shawn's here," Christy warned me before walking away. '_Great…_' I thought to myself.

"Where did everyone go?" I said out loud. I decided to walk by the large fire. When I got there, I still didn't see anyone. I stood by the fire and gazed into it, watching it crackle. I felt someone grab my shoulder I turned around. "What are you doing here? Wait," I put my hand up and shook my head, "Shawn, I don't want to know. Just leave me alone okay?"

"Okay, whatever you want. I just wanted to let you know you look pretty tonight," Shawn said. "Have fun tonight." With that, he disappeared into the group of people. I looked at my outfit. I had a strapless black top on that flowed out gradually. I had on dark pants and some sandals. Two clips on the side of my head pulled my hair back. '_What's going on!_' I was so confused by him.

"Kairi, there you are!" Namine said walking up to me.

"Sorry. Just got… caught up," I said.

"Well, let's go, everyone's already dancing!" Nam pulled me though the crowd. My friends finally came into view. They were all busting a move. It was actually kind of funny to watch them. Eventually I joined in too. We were all having a blast.

"Oh my gosh, we haven't seen you all since last year!" someone said behind us. We turned around.

"Aerith!" I said hugging her. Yuffie, Cid, and Leon were all there too. "How have you guys been?"

"Good, you?" Yuffie smiled.

"Good," we all replied.

"What have you bunch been up to?" Leon asked.

"Um, nothing really," Sora answered.

"Wow, how exciting," Cid joked. We smiled.

"Well, we better go. Hope to see you again," Aerith waved as the four of them walked away.

"It's good to see old friends," Amanda said. We agreed.

"Hey, let's go sit on that pier," Selphie said pointing to the pier a little ways off.

"Okay." We all started to walk on the shoreline letting the water lap at our bare feet since we left our shoes by a tree so sand wouldn't get in them as we danced. I heard someone yell followed by a splash a little behind me. We all turned around.

"Whoops," Cindy said with her hands covering her mouth. She was completely faking it. '_Oh no, not again._' I thought. I looked in the water. Namine slapped her hands in the water with frustration. She was soaking wet.

"Namine! Are you okay?" Cloud asked reaching for her hand. Namine reached for him. He started to pull her up when Cindy pulled him away from her causing him to let go.

"Oh yeah, she's fine," Cindy smiled. Namine fell into the water yet again. I ran over and helped her up.

"What in the hell is wrong with you, Cindy! You need to leave, NOW," Cloud said. She wrapped her arms around him. I looked up at Namine who had the most evil glare on her face.

"You don't mean that," Cindy smiled as she pulled away from the hug. "Come here. I want to show you something." She started to pull him away from us. I held Namine back.

"I'll go get him," Josh said running over to get Cloud back.

"Out of my way Kairi!" Namine yelled pushing me aside. Of course my luck, I tripped over a rock sticking out of the sand. I fell into the water.

"Kairi!" Sora called.

"Ugh! This is so frustrating!" I yelled as Sora helped me up.

"Where did the others go?" Tidus asked looking at everyone.

"I don't see them," Lissa said. We looked too. Namine, Cloud, Josh, or Cindy weren't anywhere to be seen.

"Let's go look," Riku said. We started to walk through everyone. I still didn't see them.

"Cat fight!" someone yelled a little bit away from where we were.

"What!" The eight of us yelled. We ran through the crowd. Soon I noticed a small circle of people.

"Get out of my way!" I said pushing my way to the front. The rest of them did too.

"What's the matter Namine? Jealous?" Cindy said taunting Nam.

"You're the one who's jealous!" Nam glared.

"Cindy! Stop this! Cloud is Namine's not yours," Christy said from the opposite side of the circle from us.

"Butt out of this Christy!" Cindy hissed at her best friend.

"What's the matter Cindy? Scared to know the truth?" Namine said turning the tables.

"Namine. Let's just go," Cloud said.

"No. I want to settle this," she replied. "Come on Cindy! What are going to do?" I couldn't believe Namine. She's never like this.

"Do you really want to know?" Cindy asked.

"Guys. Stop it," I said. They both looked at me.

"This is none of your business Kairi. Stay out of this," Cindy said.

"Actually it _is _my business. You're arguing with my best friend for one of my other best friends," I pointed out.

"Whatever," Cindy said rolling her eyes. "You have a bunch of best friends."

"Your point?"

"You're so idiotic to worry and fight your friends battles for them."

"Ugh!" I started at her, but my friends held me back.

"Hey! Don't call my best friend idiotic!" Namine yelled.

"What are you going to do about it Namine?" Cindy retorted.

"This." Nam ran up to her, shoving her in the crowd. Cindy charged at her and swung her fist at her. She missed, but not by much.

"Stop!" Cloud yelled. He ran over and pulled them apart. "I think it's time to go." He lightly shoved Cindy to the side, as he walked Namine towards us. Cindy lost her balance and fell into some guy, making it look like Cloud pushed her.

"Hey!" he yelled at Cloud. Namine walked to us. I hugged her and we latched arms. Cloud turned around. "You're not supposed to be pushing girls around."

"I didn't," Cloud said truthfully.

"That's a bunch of bull," he barked at him.

"I didn't push her," Cloud repeated. He looked at Cindy. "Did I push you?" We all looked at her. She looked nervous.

"Yeah," She said quietly.

"What!" Cloud yelled in outrage. "Are you freaking kidding me!"

"That's it," The guy turned and punched Cloud in the stomach.

"Cloud!" Namine tired to run up to him but the girls held her back. She some how managed to escape from us anyways. She ran over to Cloud who was clutching his aching stomach.

"Hey!" Josh got the guys attention. As soon as he looked at Josh, Josh socked him in the face.

"FIGHT!" someone called out. One of the guys' friends ran after Josh who ducked. The friend ended up punching someone else. Soon everyone broke out fighting. The guys ran over to help Cloud. As soon as we got him, we started to run away from everyone making sure to avoid flying fists. We ran over to the tree and grabbed our shoes. We put them on and started to walk through the crowd who was oblivious headed toward the fight down by the shore. I spotted Cindy by the exit. As we walked by her, we all glared.

"Now look what you did," I pointed to the large fight. "Smooth, real smooth." She just looked away. We started to head down the quiet streets.

"I can't believe what just happened," Wakka said.

"That was crazy," Amanda said.

"Kai," Nam whispered.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Sorry about pushing you."

"It's okay. At least none of us got hurt too bad." It was quiet for a couple of blocks.

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Sora asked.

"It's…" I lifted my arm to check my watch. "Oh my gosh…"

"What?" Lissa asked.

"It's almost midnight!" I practically yelled.

"Weren't we supposed to be home by eleven?" Cloud said.

"Yeah!" Sora answered. We ran the rest of the way home. We were out of breath by the time we reached my house. There weren't any lights on inside.

"Shh…" I said opening the door. We all walked in quietly. After everyone was inside, I slowly shut the door. We started to head up the dark stairs. I was leading the way. It was so dark, I didn't see Princess' ball on the second to last stair from the top. I stepped on it falling forward.

"Ah!" I screamed.

"Are you okay?" Sora whispered helping me up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said standing up looking back at everyone. The hall light turned on. We all looked to the top of the stairs.

"Kairi!" my mom yelled. She looked really mad. I think the maddest I'd ever seen her before.

"Uh oh…" I said looking up at her.

**A/N**: I decided to leave a little cliffy! If you want to know what's going to happen to them, I have to get reviews to get me motivated! So ready…. Setty… go and review! Oh random but KHobsessed-13 and I made a website for all Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy fans… check out my profile to find out more information!


	6. The Punishment

**PristessgurlYuna2005- **You'll see what happens to Kairi in a sec. So you want to be in the oh so famous Dear Diary 2? Lol j/k, it's not that famous. Anyway, since you're going to be Kairi's younger cousin I going to make you 13, sorry if you're older but things will work out better since you have to be younger then Kairi and she's 17 and I know who I can pair you with. I'll probably get you in there by the 8th or 9th chapter. : D

**Lili-sama- **lol I don't really know Irvine, but I need everyone to like someone in here, so I just put him in there since he's common for Selphie liking him. (idk if she does in the game or not, I've only played ffx2) lol yeah that shopping statement was random. I love your idea, it'll work so well with the story! Thanks! Lol isn't that song off of South Park: P. Yeah Christy is a lot nicer now. Finally! Lol.

**KHobsessed-13- **lol I see you were to lazy. Oh yeah! I was gonna say don't you already know what's going to happen, but I'm still writing this chapter. Gosh, I'm finally done with Chapter 7, now I'm working on chapter 8! Still full of laziness! Woot woot, the bhk was in this skit. Lol, it was a good one : D thanks!

**Openly Oblivion-** I hope your science fair was fun! I'm glad that you like how your character is turning out on here. She's awesome! Thanks for reviewing!

**Blue-Eyed-Bunny-Rabbit-** lol yeah I know I'm evil. : P. Well it's updated! No more evilness…. For now that is. Hee hee.

**MoonFlow-Kairi-** Yeah I know another cliffy, but least it's not a super huge one that leaves you really hanging! Yeah Cindy is annoying. Wait till you see what happens in this chapter! Yeah that is weird that you do have a cousin named Cindy. Thanks for the compliments!

**D' DayDreamer-** lol, I can tell you like it and you really want to know by all the exclamation marks. : P. Sorry if my week wasn't fast, I'm trying to make everything consistent, but now school is catching up to me and I have to make sure I get other things done, so my chapters _might_ come out a little slower after this one.

**Flower Girl-** I didn't get a review for chapter four from u. Although I did e-mail you! But not for chapter four, it was chapter three I think… wait I don't know now. Lol. Yeah Cindy is evil and horrible! She gets worse in this chapter… well not for the group at least. About the grounded thing, actually I didn't get grounded thankfully because I brought my math grade up at the last minute lol. Oh thanks for the skit thing for chapter 1 meaning chapter 5 lol. It was funny : D

**ChibiVixen**- lol it's okay that you accidentally put Josh instead of Shawn. Too many names in this story! I didn't mean for there to be this many but it's kind of working out okay. Thanks for reviewing!

**Carbuncle x3-** lol yeah they did get dressed in different rooms. Thanks for the long review I do enjoy them : P they always seem to make me smile. Lol. Dork, yeah I know. (in an announcer type of voice) and a trophy gets awarded to Catherine The Awesome! Lol, does that work for ya? Love your little censor thing for the 'W' word ; ) lol. Nope it doesn't bug me at all, actually I love how you're always changing it cuz it makes your site fun to look at! There really isn't any fluff for this chapter, nor the next actually, but there will be some, I have to add it, it's the rule! Lol. That's a mighty HUGE pocket you got there! Yes songs play a major role! Lol (gosh! I need to stop using lol!) sry: P. Yeah I'm loving how long your review is, it's freaking awesome! OH! That would be so fun to have a TV show based on this story, Season one: Dear Diary, season 2: Dear Diary 2, gosh that means I would have to make a whole lot of series! That would be so fun though! I would make sure I would get the real people to play the parts (since I practically based each character on some people, except for the new characters ie: Shawn, Christy, Cindy, Sarah and future names) Yeah typing sideways is odd. Lol. Thanks for that 'uper long review!

**Axel-** lol actually it's a REALLY big town but everyone hangs out on that side of town (which in my head is the southern part, so downtown). : P

**HopelessxDreamer**- (for chapter 1 review) lol it's okay! I hope you like the rest! Oh by the way, I love the redo on chapter 1 for Memories Not Forgotten! I would have reviewed, but since I already did for the original it wouldn't let me.

**BigBoss5-** Yeah my story has violence. I think if I could put all the genres for this story in, I would say its romance, violence/angst, drama, and some humor. Yeah sounds good to me lol. Yeah if Cloud was the original Cloud, wowo, can u imagine? Anyways thanks for the review: D

**SorastrueloveKairi78-** Yeah I know cliffies really really suck! I hate reading them in stories, but it always is a good suspense thing, so that's why I have them. I just don't put them up that often. I'm glad you think my story is awesome! I think you're awesome cause you like it : D. Thanks!

**Chapter 6**- "The Punishment"

"Do you know what time it is?" My moms face was stern. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping her foot waiting for me to answer.

"Past curfew…" I said quietly.

"What time did I tell you to get home!"

"Eleven."

"What time is it now?"

"Past eleven."

"Past midnight!" I flinched at her yelling. "Why are you home so late?"

"Lost track of time…" I said nervously. It was true, we did lose track of time, but we wouldn't have if the fight never happened.

"Really? Then what caused you to?" I really didn't want to tell her about the fight. Things would just be worse. "Well?"

"I got into an argument with someone," Namine said. We all looked at her. "She was trying to fight me."

"Namine?" My mom looked surprised.

"It was over me. This psychotic girl wants to go out with me. I ended up getting into a fight with some guy," Cloud said. My mom looked at Cloud.

"You got into a fight?" Cloud nodded. "Are you hurt?" She seemed worried. After all, my mom was like Cloud's second mom.

"No," he answered.

"The reason why we lost track of time was because we were trying to stop the fight," Josh spoke up. My mom didn't say anything right away. It seemed like she was trying to think things through properly before speaking again.

"Well, since I'm only the guardian of Kairi and Sora, I only decide their punishments. As for the rest of you, tomorrow I will tell your parents why you were late coming home. They do have a right to know. Your parents will decide your punishments. Sound fair?" My mom said.

"Yeah," we all responded.

"Well, go get some sleep. You guys have had an eventful day."

"Night mom," I said walking up the stairs hugging her.

"Good night," she replied. We all went into either Sora's room or my room.

"Thank goodness we're not into too much trouble," Lissa said. The four of us agreed as we changed into our pj's to go to bed with nothing else to say.

The next morning around noon, everyone went home. My parents went out to lunch after everyone left. Sora decided to get his homework done before they found out and we got into more trouble. He was sitting on the ground with Princess in my room. I was on my stomach with my diary out. Precious kept purring and nudging me with her head as I wrote.

_Dear Diary,_

_Sora and I got busted last night by coming home late from the party at Shadow Beach. My parents weren't all too happy with us. I'm kind of nervous about my punishment. I'm hoping my friends aren't in too much trouble. I still couldn't believe Nam and Cloud practically got into a fight! It was outrageous! Oh, I better go, mom and dad are home._

_Love always Kairi._

"Kairi! Sora! Come downstairs please!" my mom called from downstairs. I sat up picking Precious up. Sora got up too. We headed down the stairs to meet my parents. The two of us sat in the love seat as my mom and dad sat on the couch. Precious rested in my lap.

"Okay, as we were driving home from lunch, we passed by a nursing home," my dad said. "We stopped in and talked to the housing director. He says they need more visitors. Your mother and I signed you up to keep one of the residence company."

"Here's her information." My mom handed me a paper.

"Elizabeth Conley," I read. "She's 85 and has been in the nursing home for ten years."

"When do we go?" Sora asked.

"Tomorrow after school," my dad said. "You two can go back to your rooms now." Sora and I looked at each other. I picked up Precious and we headed upstairs. The two of us went into my room.

"Is this really punishment? I mean we were going to go visit soon anyway," Sora brought up.

"Well, if this really is supposed to be our punishment, I'm taking it. This isn't really going to effect us much anyway," I said.

"True."

"Tomorrow should be a very interesting day,." I smiled. Sora smiled back. The rest of the day went by and Monday showed its self once again.

"Are you two in too much trouble?" Amanda asked at school.

"Well, all we have to do is go to the nursing center to visit a patient for the rest of the school year. It shouldn't be too bad. What about you guys?" Sora said.

"Nothing," Riku said.

"Our parents just said don't do it again," Nam shrugged.

"You guys suck," I said. "Well, at least it's not too bad for Sora and me."

"Be thankful for that," Lissa said.

"Oh trust us, we are," Sora agreed. Not too long after our mini-discussion was over, the bell rang to get to class. For being a Monday, our morning classes went by really fast. Once it was lunch, the group piled at our usual table. The guys were talking about who knows what, while the girls were talking about a day to ourselves over the weekend.

"Doesn't that sound good? Just the five of us. The guys can have a day to themselves too," Namine said.

"Oh! I like the sound of that!" Amanda smiled.

"Same," I smiled too.

"So what should we do?" Lissa asked.

"Shopping!" Selphie clapped.

"You guys know I'm not much of a shopper," I said.

"Well, you know Homecoming is in about a week," Amanda reminded me.

"We can look for cute dresses," Selphie said.

"I guess that works," I smiled. "Then we can also go to the beach and eat lunch."

"Perfect," Namine smiled.

"Hey, isn't that Cindy?" Lissa said pointing behind Namine and me. We both turned around. A few tables away, Cindy's long dark blond hair laid neatly behind her back and part of the guys shoulder that she was resting her head on.

"I guess she's moved on Nam," Amanda said pleased.

"Finally," Namine sighed in relief.

"Who's that guy though?" Lissa said squinting her eyes. The guy turned to face Cindy who lifted her head up. My mouth dropped open. Shawn was smiling at Cindy like he wanted to kiss her. I seriously thought they were going out, at least by the looks of it. I tugged on Sora who was sitting next to me.

"What?" he asked stopping the conversation the guys were having.

"Look." I pointed to Shawn and Cindy. All the guys turned to look. They were quite surprised too. Christy and Sarah were walking by our table. I knew Sarah liked Shawn a lot, so I was surprised that she didn't have a reaction to Cindy being so close to him.

"Hey Sarah," I called to her. Christy and her looked at me.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Are Shawn and Cindy together?" I decided to ask.

"Uh, no. She knows I like him, why?" I pointed towards them. Just as Sarah looked, Shawn and Cindy kissed. Sarah was just as shocked. She started to walk towards them.

"Why, you!" They quickly broke apart.

"Sarah! I didn't mean to! I mean, it's not like you two are together!" Cindy said. They started yelling at each other.

"That Shawn has caused so much drama here. I think even more then what I did last year…" Christy said who was still standing by us.

"Go figure, your two best friends are after your least favorite person," I said. She sighed and shook her head as she left the lunchroom. We all turned back to the table and started laughing. The argument continued through out lunch. I'm sure if they were in the same class, they'd be arguing there too. Our group was walking out of the school at the end of the day when we heard them again.

"I still can't believe you kissed him!" Sarah yelled leaving school.

"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Cindy called running after her friend.

"They're still at it?" Riku said watching the two girls bicker down the street.

"Apparently so," I replied.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Namine asked.

"We can't hang out. Kai and I need to go visit the nursing care center," Sora reminded everyone.

"Well, see you guys later," I waved as Sora and I left. We headed down a couple of blocks until we finally arrived. The two of us walked into the fairly large building. Everything inside looked quite peaceful and home-like with plants, fancy furniture, paintings, and a few statues. All the colors were warm calming colors, nothing outrageous, which was understandable. Sora and I looked around as we continued to walk in.

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" a younger looking lady with short brown hair, sitting at a secretary desk, asked.

"Yeah, we're here to see a patient. My parents signed us up for a program or something," I said.

"Oh yes, I remember. Are you two, Sora and Kairi?" she asked.

"Yes," we both answered.

"Okay, Mrs. Conley is on the second floor in room 207," she smiled.

"Thank you," Sora said. We started to walk through the entry area where some of the elderly were.

"Hello," one of them said.

"Hi," I waved in return.

"You're a very pretty girl and a handsome young fellow," another said.

"Thank you," Sora and I smiled. We continued down a hall to the elevators. We got to the second floor and went to room 207.

"Should I knock?" I asked as we stood before the closed door.

"Here, I'll do it." Sora lightly knocked. After a couple of seconds the door opened.

"Yes?" An older lady opened the door. She was a little heavy set but not considered fat. She had sea green eyes that were quite youthful when you looked in them. Her hair was a cloudy white color that was short, but had a bouncy curl to it. Her face was aged with wrinkles that had taken over her appearance. The outfit she was wearing was a light pink nightgown with some matching slippers.

"Hi, are you Elizabeth Conley?" Sora asked greeting her with a warm smile.

"Yes I am," she replied in a shy but confident tone.

"I'm Sora and this is my girlfriend Kairi. We're going to be visiting you," Sora said. Her shy appearance brightened with a smile.

"Oh, come in and sit down," Elizabeth replied stepping aside to let us in.

"Thank you," I smiled as we walked in. Her room was somewhat big with a small bed, a couch, a dresser, TV, a window looking out at the ocean and the part of the city off in the distance. "You have a nice room."

"Oh thank you dear," Mrs. Conley said closing the door. "Go on, you two sit on the couch." We did as we were told as she sat on a chair facing the window. "It's so nice to have visitors that aren't from the nursing home."

"You don't get visitors often or outside of this place?" I asked.

"Oh heavens no. There's no one to visit me," she said calmly.

"Don't you have a husband, I mean you are a Mrs. and don't you have kids, cousins, sisters, brothers, anyone?" Sora asked.

"No, I'm a widow. Stan died over twenty years ago on the job. He was a police officer. There was a man trying to rob a bank and Stan tried to stop him, but the robber shot him," She seemed really upset by it.

"I'm so sorry to hear that." My heart felt a warm spot for this poor women.

"Oh don't feel bad," she continued. "I never had kids, well, because I couldn't."

"That's really sad," I said sympathetically.

"Well enough sad topics. I want to know about you two," Mrs. Conley said.

"What do you want to know?" Sora asked.

"Anything you're willing to share," she smiled. We smiled back. We started to describe our lives. I said stuff about me living here in elementary school, knowing Namine, Sora, and Riku but then me moving to Star City. We talked about last year and our eventful year. The two of us finished off our mini-history line with today at school.

"Wow, high school has defiantly changed. It seems very rambunctious," she responded.

"It's full of drama," I added.

"It sure does sound like it," she chuckled. "Your friends seem like an interesting bunch."

"We should bring them to meet you sometime," Sora said causing her to smile.

"Oh that would be wonderful! I would really enjoy that."

"Hee, hee. Okay, we can bring them when they can go," I smiled. She smiled back.

"Well Mrs. Conley," Sora began.

"Oh, call me Elizabeth," she said standing up. We stood up too.

"We better head home. Dinner will be ready soon," Sora continued.

"All right dears. It was a pleasure to meet you two. Please come back soon," Elizabeth said as we walked to the door.

"We will," I smiled while hugging her. Sora did the same. Sora and I said goodbye and headed home. When we arrived we had made it just in time for dinner. My parents asked us how we liked Elizabeth. We really thought she was a very sweet lady who we would love to continue to visit. The next day at school we told our friends about her. They ended up coming with us to visit her after school. By the look on her face when we got there, she looked like she had seen the sun and felt it's warmth for the first time.

Elizabeth told us about when she was a kid growing up in Destiny City. She talked about her marriage with Mr. Conley. We talked about our dilemmas at school. She seemed quite interested in our lives. At six we left to go home.

Our weekend was here. It was early Saturday morning the girls were coming over. I was fully dressed and ready, writing in my diary waiting for them to show up.

"Hey," I heard from my doorway. I looked up to see Namine, Amanda, Selphie and Lissa smiling at me.

"Hey." I smiled back closing my diary. I got up and put it away. "So are you guys ready?"

"Yep," Amanda replied. We headed downstairs.

"Do you guys want something to snack on? Because I was thinking we could go for a short car ride and none of the stores or dinning spots are open yet. It's only 9:30," I said walking into the kitchen.

"Sure," Namine said going through the pantry with the others. I got out a Starbucks Mocha Frapiccino from my fridge when Sora walked downstairs in his long pajama bottoms and no shirt on. He was groggy, I could tell. Sora didn't even notice the girls, who were in the walk in pantry, when he walked in the kitchen. He hugged me before getting a glass out of the cupboard. I leaned against the counter drinking my frap, waiting for him or the girls to notice each other.

"Okay, we have our snacks," Lissa said holding a bag of cookies. The rest came out with chips and mini-donuts. They spotted Sora who obviously didn't hear them. He was getting water from the fridge.

"Gosh Sora, least you could do is put some clothes on," Namine laughed. He turned around with a jump. We all laughed.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"We're going to have a girls day out," Selphie answered.

"Hey Kai, are you driving?" Amanda wondered.

"I guess so," I said grabbing my car keys off the counter. "Well, I'll see you at practice tonight," I told Sora as we walked into the living room.

"Have fun." Sora waved as we headed outside. We got into my cherry red Toyota Corolla. Namine sat up front with me. The five of us drove around town for a couple of hours before heading to a casual restaurant for lunch.

"So what do you guys want to do exactly?" I asked taking a drink of my Sprite.

"Well, we can hit the shops by the coast," Selphie suggested.

"We're shopping for homecoming dresses right?" Namine asked.

"Yeah," Selph answered.

"Oh! Nam, remember when Christy got ranch on your dress last year?" I brought up. Namine sighed rolling her eyes.

"Did you have to bring that up?" She said. I smiled.

"You guys brought your swimsuits under your clothes right?" I asked changing the subject again so I wouldn't annoy Namine.

"Yep," they answered.

"Okay, and I have towels in my trunk," I remembered. "Today is going great." I smiled. They smiled back.

"Here's your food," our waiter said handing out our plates. We thanked him as we started to eat our delicious meal. After, we split a dessert, which was a jumbo banana split. We walked out of the restaurant full and satisfied.

"Should I leave the car here?" I asked when we walked out.

"Yeah, because we don't want to get in and out of the car constantly if we're walking along the coast line shops," Amanda said.

"True. Okay then! Let's go!" I said walking to the main street with my friends. We walked into a few shops but weren't satisfied with any of the dressed we saw. We finally found a store with decent priced dresses.

"Oh, this one is cute," Selphie said holding up a off the shoulder light yellow, silky dress that went to her knees.

"That's perfect for you Selph," I smiled.

"Well, well, well," someone said. We turned around to see who it was. Shawn and his friends were standing just on the other side of the store.

"What are you doing here?" Amanda snarled.

"Stay out of this Junior," Shawn said simply. (**A/N**: Incase you forgot, Amanda is a year younger then the rest of us)

"How come you go through fazes? Sometimes you're really nice, other times you're a dick," I said crossing my arms. He shrugged.

"Anyway, I'm here with my date for homecoming," he answered.

"Your followers are your date?" I questioned. Shawn laughed.

"No, Cindy is," he smirked… almost as if he could make me jealous by telling me that. "She's trying on dresses now."

"Are you two going out?" Namine asked.

"Nope." It was silent for a bit figuring this conversation was going no where fast.

"Let's keep looking for dresses," Amanda said. We agreed. Selphie ended up getting that yellow dress. The five of us agreed to get matching dresses, just in different colors. I got a light blue one. Namine got a green dress. Amanda got a dark blue dress and Lissa got a red dress. After we paid for them, we walked out into the warm sun with our dresses slung over our shoulders. Shawn and the others walked out behind us.

"Hey Shawn!" someone called out. We turned to see Sarah and Christy walking down the sidewalk. Cindy was on the other side of Shawn closest to us, so Sarah didn't notice her.

"Hey," he responded.

"More drama," I whispered behind me.

"So, do you have a date to homecoming yet?" Sarah smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, I do, actually." He stepped back.

"Heh, hey Sarah…" Cindy said shyly. Sarah's happy face turned into a very angry one.

"Okay, let's cut the drama today," Christy said stepping in.

"Hey!" someone said behind us. We turned around. Josh, Sora, Cloud, Riku, Tidus, and Wakka were walking up behind us.

"What are you doing here?" Sora asked Shawn. Sora wrapped his arm over my shoulders.

"Helping my homecoming date pick out a dress," Shawn seemed kind of bored. The seventeen (**A/N**: WOW! That's a LOT of people!) of us fell silent. We all just looked at the others.

"Well, let's go," I said walking in the direction of my car. Everyone stared to leave not wanting to be apart of anything.

"What are you guys doing here?" Namine asked as we put our dresses in my trunk.

"We were heading to the beach," Josh answered.

"That's where we were going next," Lissa said.

"Okay, let's go," I said after everyone grabbed a towel and I locked up my car.

"Our first performance with Sora is Friday!" Selphie chimed cheerfully.

"Wait, what?" I asked confused.

"We're performing for homecoming," Riku said.

"Really?" Namine obviously didn't know either.

"You two didn't know that?" Wakka asked. We shook our heads.

"What performance did you think we were practicing for?" Tidus questioned.

"Didn't really think about it," I laughed.

"Yeah," Nam laughed too.

"I don't know about you two sometimes," Cloud sighed as he wrapped his arm over Namine. Everyone laughed.

"Hey!" We yelled in unison. The two of us ended up chasing after everyone to the beach.

**A/N**: Woot! I'm done with chapter 6! Yay me! Anyways I have an announcement to make guys! Okay, I wanted to let you all know that at the end of the story (which isn't for a LONG time) you'll all be added in there for the last chapter! Because I love all my reviewers that much. So, if you want to give me your answers about being in the last chapter of Dear Diary 2, let me know in your review, you don't have to do it at this chapter though you have PLENTY of time. All I want to know is the name you want to be called and who you're friends with (can be any of the main characters). Since you don't have to give me the info at this chapter, I'm going to post it again as a reminder every few chapters. Oh Also! There is a new idea for a fic i'm thinking about writing, there's a summary on my page, so check it out! Hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review!


	7. The Wild Trip

**Carbuncle x3-** lol of course you got the most comment on the comments list thingy! You're the one who writes the most out of all my reviewers! Woot! Lol. Hum, hope that project was easy! That's awesome that you're helping with the Pakistan Earthquake Relief thingy! Woot way to go! So I take it you win more then one trophy…. Often? Lucky! Lol. Actually, you reviewed first (obviously cuz I go in order of who reviewed) and I updated later that day for one thing, and the website was being a little off so it never sent the e-mails out right away. Oh! I've done that escalator thing, going the opposite of what you're really supposed to do! It happened a while ago, me and my cousin didn't mean to do it but the rest of the family found something else to look at while we had already gone on them so we had to run up the down ones. What a pain! Lol I liked you're little input on what some of the things said. : P. nice. I still think it would be awesome if this really were a show. The bad thing is most of my friends here aren't KH fans so I would have to find all of you reviewer ppls so we could go an act this out! Woot! I still wanna know who I would cast as Sora… lol. Alrighty, let me know what other details you have about being in the last chapter! (woot, check that out, you're once again the one who got the longest review!)

**SorastrueloveKairi78-** Of course I want my fans in my story! For one, I've gotten a lot of questions from people asking if they can be in it in the first place. I started running out of room and characters for them to fall for! So I decided since the last chapter is VERY important, I would add all of you! Thanks for the best author comment, that means a lot to me: D. lol and I'm glad you can read it over and over again. Again about the last chapter thing, just let me know the info I was looking for when you've decided (name, grade, and who you're friends with)! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

**Axel- **Ha, good question. I never really thought about the money they spend. I guess I've kinda seen how the people around here spend their money. No I'm not living in some rich community, but I just kind of go with the flow.

**SoraKairi Forever-** Thanks about the best writer comment. Lately I've gotten that compliment a lot. Let me guess for the name… Reno? Lol yeah I knew that one. Also I need to know what grade you want to be in and who you're friends with. About comment of actually being in the story, I've run out of room. Everyone is paired up now. Sry!

**KHobsessed-13-** Woot hey there Tifa! Lol I already told you what season we're in again. Heck, I still don't even really know. I'm sure it's almost fall. Lol I loved ur skit! As you saw when I got it, I was on the rolling on the floor cracking up. : P. Thank you!

**Thesrazrbladekisses- **lol wowo I wouldn't be able to be that talented and play paddle ball and read at the same time. : P. There will be more cliffhangers, that's what I meant by the 'for now' part. Lol. Hey! We can be evil together! Woot!

**ChibiVixen-** Yeah of course you can be in the story! I'm glad you guys are all happy to be in it: D. Okay, so I'll add you in as Donna… a friend to Sora and me (since I'm Kairi in the story) : P. Oh also, in you're next review can you put what grade you want to be in? Thanks! Thanks for the review!

**SexyKairi-** woot! I'm you're fav author! Woot! Thanks! Lol. I would think that would be awesome if I got a trophy for writing. : D. Anywho's yes, you can be in here! Sakura Niwa is now who you are. Ha, this shall be interesting on being friends with everyone…. Including Shawn! Thanks for the review!

**D' DayDreamer**- Yeah Shawn… well… he's just plain ignorant. Yeah, you would think they'd seriously would get into loads of trouble, but I didn't make them: D. thanks for reviewing!

**PristessgurlYuna2005-** Even though this is chapter 7, I'm way more ahead in writing this story in my notebook then I am with typing it up and posting them. I've already got you down, and don't worry; I wasn't going to make you annoying to them. Thanks!

**Lili-Sama**- holy crap about the whole no curfew and being out that late! lucky! Anywho, so you really want more drama between Kairi and Shawn? TRUST ME! There's a big thing full of drama coming up… no idea when exactly, but it's coming! (shivers) ugh, I don't really like clowns. Lol, when I was thinking up DD2 over the summer after I was finished with DD, I went to a nursing home, and that's where I got the idea for Elizabeth Conley. : D. Yeah, Shawn is somewhat of a player lol, and it yeah that causes loads of drama with Kairi dating Sora! Alright Lily, you'll be friends with…. Shawn! Yeah I need you to be friends with Shawn for a reason… cuz if you are, you'll have somewhat of a part in my story before the last chapter. : D. So now all I need to know is what grade you want to be in!

**BigBoss5-** lol, woot! Thanks for saying its terrific! Yeah, I wanted a really awesome character in there for Sora and Kairi to talk to if something's wrong (hint about later chapters!) Anywho, Just let me know about the character thing when you know!

**Flower Girl- **(for chapter 4) I hate how school gets in the way of things… it's so evil! Gosh, Amanda has gotten me really addicted to saying that! Lol. OH wait till you start liking boys! My goodness, they're pains, lol. Don't get me wrong though, they have their awesomely sweet moments : P. (for chapter 6) yay u finally caught up : D. So you're willing to be in my story, yay! Well, we have all the original characters in here, so Yuffie is already in this story. Sry! Well if you think of a name, grade and well u got the friends down, so you'll be friends with me and my best buddy (if you remember, since I'm Kairi, lol) Woot! Hope you like this chapter! Oh and yeah this will HOPEFULLY be longer then Dear Diary!

**Sora's GuardianAngel-** Woot! I got a new reviewer! I love knowing I have more readers then normal. I'm so glad you've read and loved my stories! That means a lot : D. Yeah this site takes some time getting to know. When I first got my account name a few months ago, I was so lost! Lol thanks for the little skit, I love skits in my reviews.

**Sulana Jay-** Thanks: D. I usually do hope my sequels do better then the originals!

**Chapter 7-** The Wild Trip

One Destiny had our last practice before we had our first monthly performance. We all got dressed and met each other outside.

"You guys ready?" Riku asked linking arms with Amanda.

"Very," I smiled linking arms with Sora. We all headed down the street towards our school. There were quite a few people outside that were waiting for their friends to show up. Lissa, Josh, Wakka, and Tidus were waiting for us too.

"Let's go backstage to warm up," Wakka said once we got there. The eleven of us walked in and through the backstage door.

"I'm excited guys!" Selphie smiled wide and clapped.

"Why are you so upbeat?" Cloud asked looking at the overly hyper brunette.

"Because I'm going to sing to Irvine," Selphie responded. Last practice we decided to each pick a song that we would love to perform. Luckily, Selph picked an easier song that we learned on Saturday.

"Let's warm up," Namine said getting her guitar.

"We'll meet you guys on the dance floor," Josh said motioning Lissa.

"Good luck!" Lissa smiled. We returned it as they left the stage. The eight of us warmed up for about half an hour, while Wakka examined everything to prepare for the show, until the principle came backstage.

"Okay, I'm going to introduce you, then you can begin," he said. We nodded. He grabbed the mic and walked through the curtain to face everyone. "It's a pleasure to have you here for homecoming! Now, I would like you to welcome back last years band to their first performance of the year. Please welcome, One Destiny!"

The curtains slowly opened. Heat from the lights hit us as we heard our school clap for us. We smiled at the great sensation of being onstage again.

"Tonight, we're going to have one of the back up singers, Selphie, sing a song to start off," Sora said in the microphone. The crowd cheered again as Selphie walked up to the front. The band started to play as Amanda and me walked next to Selphie as she sang the Zatta Bytes song, "Will You Notice Me?".

The crowd below was clapping and cheering for Selphie. We smiled at her as her and Amanda moved off to the side and Sora and I went up front. Right as the crowd started to settle down we headed into our three main songs.

By the time we were finished with our songs, our school was going wild. Many people congratulated us in some way as we made our way to the refreshment table and they started to have the DJ play songs. I felt very satisfied by our performance and I couldn't wait until our next one in October. Someone put their hand on Selphie's shoulder when we reached the table. We all turned to see who it was.

"Hey Selphie," a tall guy with long caramel colored hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail and gray blue eyes said with a smirk. He looked like a cowboy. I knew very much who this person was. I looked at Selphie, whose emerald eyes were wide and shiny. She smiled at him.

"Hey Irvine," she said.

"You sounded good up there."

"Heh, thanks." I saw her blush. He noticed, too and smiled.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked her.

"I would love too!" Selphie took Irvine's hand and they ran out to the dance floor. We all laughed.

"Well, Selphie's song worked. He noticed her," Amanda smiled.

"Yep. All she had to do was make herself noticeable," I agreed.

"Hey! You guys did great!" Lissa said running up to us with Josh right behind her.

"Thanks!" we all replied simultaneously.

Josh quickly reached into his pocket, "my phone's ringing." He pulled out his cell phone and answered it. Suddenly he handed it to me. "It's Jenna." I put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Kairi!" my old friend back in Star City called into the phone.

"Hey Jenna!"

"Kai, I can't talk long, but I had to tell you! Me, Casey, Kyle, and Chris are coming to visit you, Cloud, and Josh in December!"

"Oh cool!" I smiled. I missed my old friends back in Star City. Last time I saw them was over Spring Break.

"I got to go, but I'll call you later for the details. Bye." Jenna hung up the phone. I handed Josh his phone.

"What did Jenna want?" Cloud asked.

"Her, Casey, Kyle, and Chris are coming to visit us in December," I replied.

"Are you serious?" Josh asked. I nodded.

"Who are those people?" Namine asked us.

"Our friends back home," Cloud answered.

"That's cool," Nam said with a small smile. We agreed.

"Hey Kai," Sora called to me. I looked at him. He walked next to me and held out his hand. "Dance with me?"

"In a heartbeat," I smiled placing my hand in his. He pulled me into the crowd of people. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me close to him by my waist. Time seemed to slow down as we danced to quite a few songs.

"Hey guys," Cloud said walking by us. "Some people were talking to me about this little campsite just outside of town in the rainforest. We should go this weekend."

"That sounds fun," I smiled.

"We'll ask when we get home tonight," Sora said.

"Don't scare us this time," Amanda said who was dancing with Riku next to us. Riku laughed and so did the guys.

"It's not funny," Namine said crossing her arms.

"Sorry, but it is," Cloud chuckled. We rolled our eyes. The night ended perfectly. Nothing went wrong, which was a surprise. All I could do was think of how great things were going.

Saturday came; we packed everything in Sora's truck and Cloud's car. Cloud was going to lead the way with Namine, Wakka, and Tidus in the car with him. Behind would be Sora, Riku, Amanda, and me. Selphie had a date with Irvine so we knew for a fact she wouldn't want to go. Josh and Lissa were going to stay behind and Josh told Cloud and me that he was going to take her out to dinner. I thought it was sweet of him.

"Guys ready?" Sora asked climbing into his truck. I was sitting in the passenger seat smiling.

"Ready!" Riku and Amanda called from the back seat. Cloud pulled out of his driveway. He started to drive down the street. We followed the black car.

"So how far is this mystery campsite anyway?" Riku asked.

"I think a little over an hour," Sora answered.

"Not bad compared to our last camping trip," Amanda pointed out.

"Yeah. That ride was boring," I laughed. It was quite for a bit, only the radio was making noise. Something came to mind. "Hey, what songs are we singing this month?" I asked.

"What do you guys have in mind?" Sora asked.

"How about 'Time Of Your Life' by Green Day?" Amanda suggested.

"Oh! Good song!" I smiled. I heard her laugh from the back seat.

"How about another song from Green Day, they're a good group," Sora said.

"What about 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'?" Riku thought up. I looked back at him.

"Uh, September is over though. Won't that be kind of weird to sing that at the _end_ of October?" I asked.

"It's such a good song, I don't think it would really matter," Riku said. I shrugged.

"Why not. I love both songs," I smiled turning back to the front.

"So 'Time Of Your Life' and 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'." Sora made a mental reminder.

"Sounds good to me," Amanda said.

"Same," I agreed.

"Good here," Riku called.

"Ditto." Sora smiled.

The rest of the ride to the campsite actually flew by. When we got there, we got everything out of the cars and headed through the thick rainforest. Since it was such a big rainforest we knew if we didn't stick together, we could easily get lost. The big tree trunks were so close together it cut off sound waves from Cloud, who was leading, to Riku, who was behind.

After a while, we made it to the campsite at the beach. The sand was a light tan color that was a soft as sugar. The water was crystal clear and a perfect color blue that almost matched Sora's blue eyes. We set up camp. Since it was still light out, we figured we could go have a look in the woods. I decided to leave everything inside the tent that I was sharing with Amanda and Namine. I didn't want to lose anything in the forest.

The eight of us gathered together and began our mini-tour of our campsite. The think green treetops gave off little light, but enough for us to see.

"This place is huge!" Namine said gazing at the tall trees.

"But it's cool," I added staring at the new sight.

"Very," Wakka agreed.

"Make sure we stick together," Cloud called out.

"I see a monkey…." Riku said pointing above us. We all looked up to see a chimpanzee sitting on a branch staring at us.

"Now you see the monkey," Sora laughed. We all laughed too, remember our camping trip last year. I looked around while everyone looked up. I saw a really cool Toucan with its large golden orange beak just on the next tree.

"Cloud! Look!" I tugged at his arm. He turned to look.

"Oh cool!" he said.

"Hey, guys look! The monkey has more friends!" Namine called. "They're going that way!"

"Let's follow!" I heard Amanda say.

"Hold on, guys look!" I said still looking at the toucan. It got quiet.

"Guys?" Cloud said turning around. I turned around too.

"Uh oh. Where did they go?" I asked looking around, only to see trees.

"This isn't good," Cloud said.

"Ugh! I left my cell phone at camp. Do you have yours?" I asked.

"I didn't think we would lose them. I left mine at camp, too," Cloud sighed.

"Great!" I said frustrated.

"Well, let's go and look for them," Cloud started to walk through the think rainforest. I ran next to him. We started to call everyone's names. No one was responding. After a while, we gave up calling them. I sat down on a rock resting my elbows on my knees and placing my chin on fists I made with my hands. Cloud leaned against a tree crossing his arms. I let out a sigh.

"Maybe they're at camp," I said looking up.

"They probably are," Cloud responded.

"Then let's go!" I said standing up. Cloud looked at me.

"Kairi, don't you think that's where we would be if I knew where camp was?" he asked.

"Right." I plopped back onto the rock. "What are we going to do now?"

"Well, we can try and look for camp before it gets dark all the way or we can stay here and hope someone finds us."

"Let's go look," I stood up again. We started to walk again. It was kind of eerie and quiet. The only sounds that we heard were the crunching of twigs and branches under our feet. It was getting darker faster then normal. Soon thunder was heard.

"Great, soon it's gong to rain," Cloud said looking up. There was a crack of lightening, which brightened the now dark rainforest. Rain started to fall onto us. I sighed.

"Seriously, could this get any worse? Let alone was it hard enough to see ten feet in front of me during the day, but now I can hardly see three feet in front of me! Plus it's raining!" I yelled over the thunder.

"I'm also getting hungry," Cloud said holding his stomach.

"Same here."

Cloud looked around. "I think we're walking in circles."

"How can you tell?" Another flash of lightening went off, lighting up the rainforest again.

"That tree looks familiar." He pointed to the tree behind me. I looked back. After glancing at the tree, I looked back at him sighing in frustration.

"Cloud! They all look alike!" I yelled. He shrugged.

"It still looks familiar to me," he said. I slapped my forehead. We were really starting to get drenched with water. "Let's try and get some sleep. By morning, it should be easier to see."

"Okay." I sat down after gathering some leaves together for a pillow. Another flash went off. I looked at Cloud, whose eyes were closed. "Night Cloud."

"Night Kairi," he mumbled. I closed my eyes, listening to the thunder crackle and the rain pitter-pattering through out the forest. Soon I was sleeping.

"Kairi, wake up," I heard Cloud say. My eyes fluttered open. I sat up, very stiffly.

"Ugh, my clothes are soaked." I tugged at my wet clinging shirt. I stood up, feeling very uncomfortable in my rain-soaked outfit.

"Yeah, mine too." Cloud did the same thing. "Well, let's go look again."

"All right." Once again we set out to find camp. The more we walked, the hungrier and tired I got, not to mention slower. I let myself fall to my knees.

"Cloud, I'm really tired," I said pouting. He leaned against a tree.

"Me too," he sighed. I heard his stomach growl. "And hungry."

"M'hum," I agreed feeling my stomach.

"Come on Kai, we can't give up." He pulled me up, only causing me to pout stubbornly. I heard a light growl it was somewhat loud.

"I can really tell you're hungry," I said looking at Cloud.

"I thought that was you," he said kind of taken back. We heard it again, but behind us. We turned to look. Nothing was there.

"Cloud…" I whispered.

"Yeah Kairi…" he voice was kind of shaky.

"What was that?" The bushes rattled. I saw big round amber colored eyes staring at us through the bushes. The eyes belonged to a jaguar. It peeked over the bushes roaring loudly. My eyes were huge. I thought was I was going to have a heart attack I was completely stunned.

"Kairi! Come on!" Cloud pulled me. I spun around and we started running. The branches were cracking behind us from the jaguar stepping on them.

"Cloud!" I screamed.

"Keep running Kairi! Don't look back!" he yelled. We kept on running. I wanted to cry I was so scared, but I couldn't for that same reason. "Come on!"

"I am!" This was the fastest I'd ever run before.

"Is it still behind us?"

"You told me not to look back!" I saw him turn to look. I did too. Before I knew it, I fell forward onto something.

"Umph!" I said landing on whatever I ran into. Cloud landed next to me.

"Kairi? Cloud?" Wakka said. I slowly opened my eyes to see Wakka looking down at us surprised. I looked around. Namine was sitting by the campfire looking really upset. Amanda was comforting her. Riku was coming out of the guy's tent. Sora had his arms crossed by the ocean shore, just staring out obliviously. I looked down, quickly getting up.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Tidus!" I said helping him up.

"It's okay Kai," Tidus dusted the sand off of him.

"Cloud! Kairi! You're alright!" Riku said running to us. Everyone turned to look at us.

"Cloud!" Namine yelled practically tackling him back to the sand.

"Kairi!" Sora ran over picking me up. He kissed me and hugged me tight. "I was so worried!"

"What happened to you guys!" Amanda asked.

"Well, while you guys were looking at that monkey, Cloud and I saw a toucan. When we turned around, you were all gone," I said. "Then it rained, we fell asleep. We woke up to look for camp again when we got chased by a jaguar."

"A jaguar!" they all exclaimed.

"Yes," Cloud said looking back into the forest. "It looks like it's gone."

"Why didn't you tell us there were jaguars here!" Namine freaked.

"I wouldn't have brought you if I knew!"

"I think we should pack up," Riku said.

"Good idea," Sora said. We started to pack up camp. Sora looked at me. "You know, I tried calling you."

"I left my phone here."

"It wouldn't work anyways. We don't get service out here."

"That figures," I laughed, trying to lighten up the mood even though I was still having a minor heart attack. Sora smiled walking over to me. He hugged me tight. I hugged him back.

"I'm so glad you're safe. I was so worried about you," he said quietly.

"I was scared we wouldn't find our way home," I replied. "But I did. My home is in your arms." He looked down at me smiling. He lightly kissed my lips. (**A/N**: woot! Fluffyness!)

"Hey love birds. Come on!" Riku said gathering some of our camping gear.

"Coming!" I said. We let go and got the rest of the stuff before heading into the forest once again. Instead of getting lost, we actually made it out. I don't know how we made it out without getting lost, but we did, and I wasn't going to complain. We all loaded everything into the cars.

"Riku, can you drive?" Sora asked.

"Sure." Sora got out his keys and passed them to Riku, who got into the drivers seat of Sora's truck.

"Amanda, you can get the passenger seat if you want," Sora said.

"Cool. Thanks." She hopped into the passenger side. Sora and me got in the back seat. Not too soon into the drive, I began to yawn.

"Tired?" Sora laughed.

"No." I yawned again.

"Uh, huh."

"Okay, I am." I laughed a little.

"Go ahead and sleep," Sora said. I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder. Soon my mind drifted into my own world.

We finally arrived home just a little over an hour later. I was so happy to be home. I ran to the door and opened it.

"Mom!" I ran over and hugged my mom.

"I didn't think you'd be so happy to be home," my mom laughed. Sora walked in.

"What's all this commotion?" my dad walked in from the den.

"Dad!" I hugged him too. He laughed.

"Gosh Kairi," he chuckled.

"I'm so happy to be home," I smiled stepping back standing next to Sora.

"Want to tell us why?" he asked.

"Eh, long story. Maybe over dinner," I said.

"Oh Kairi, before I forget. Your uncle John and aunt Julie are moving a couple streets away," my mom said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They'll be fully moved in, in about a month."

"Why so long?" Sora asked.

"They're rich, probably bought some big house, so it would take a month," I replied.

"Kairi!" my mom said.

"Well it's true!"

"Well, they also have to get everything from the other island and make sure they tell all the companies and other places that their address is different."

"Okay…" I said not really knowing the point of this discussion.

"Well, while your aunt and uncle stay on the other island to get everything situated, your cousin will be staying with us."

"Alexa?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's going to Destiny High as a freshman. I'm counting on you and Sora to make sure she's okay at all times."

"Got it," I said.

"When is she coming?" Sora asked.

"Saturday afternoon," my mom said. Her and dad started to walk into the kitchen "That extra bedroom better be ready for her when she comes."

"It will," I reassured her. "This year is full of things all ready…" I said to Sora.

"And it's only the beginning too…" Sora said.

**A/N**: woot! I'm done with Chapter 7, yay me! Okay I don't know when Chapter 8 is going to be done, it'll probably take longer to post since I'm usually a head in chapters in my notebook then me typing up the stories, and I'm not quite half way done with Chapter 8 in my notebook yet! Sorry if I delay on the updating! Plus, I'm starting to type up What A Life 3. Yep that'll hopefully be up soon too!

OH for the last chapter reviewers/friends thing…. So far I have

**Carbuncle x3** as a Junior

**Sorakairi Forever** as Reno

**ChibiVixen** as Donna and friends with Sora and Kairi

**SexyKairi** as Sakura Niwa who's friends with everyone

**Lili-Sama** who's Lily and friends with either Christy or Shawn.

That's all the info I have, here's yet another reminder to be in the last chapter of Dear Diary 2! If you want to be in it, all I need is a name you want (can't be taken), a grade you're in (preferably a Sophomore, Junior or Senior) and who you're friends with in this story! Oh by the way, since I originally tried to make this fic go with what grades I'm in, the year is 2006-2007! Just letting you all know. Anyways please review! Thanks guys!


	8. Quality Time

**A/N****:** They just made a new thing where I can actually respond to anyone who sent me a review as long as they signed it, so to anyone who doesn't have an account, here's your respond from me. : D

**Axel-** lol, I'm sure you'll find a question soon. Alrighty, you can be Axel in the story. That's fine with me. Thanks for the review.

**Lili-Sama-** lol yeah, there's always gonna be Drama between Shawn and Kairi. Woot! Specially in a few chapter, and this one kinda. No way would I have him rape her, I wouldn't be able to do that. Lol, ok I decided to make you a junior. Yay, I'm glad you like Irvine in this story. Doesn't that seem to be typical for a lot of characters… perveritedness? Anywho, yeah Green Day rox and I love both of those songs, I agree the others are too… well I like rock songs, but those are just not the kind of rock I like. Lol yeah I seemed to surprise everyone with the tiger thing! Lol, thanks for the review!

**Flower Girl-** woot! I got a long review. Well yeah, school sucks and it's the reason why I can't update as frequently as I wanted to! Evil! But I only have a year and a half until I'm through with school, but I'll be kind of sad when I'm done with it. lol feel free to tell me about any guy problems if you ever come across any, I'm willing to help! I have so many guy friends and I've had a few boyfriends in my past so I know a lot of great info. Okay since you want to be in a grade lower then me, well in this story I'm a senior, so you'll be made a junior. I told Amanda (KHobsessed-13) that any juniors I have in this story will be friends with her since Amanda's a junior in this story. Oh and you can be Kirena in here. Lol, yeah all the single people will get noticed. Yeah I'm going to have a Halloween chapter (chapter 10) a Thanksgiving chapter and a Christmas one and all the other good holidays. It'll help me make this story longer. OH about that Sora Kairi back seat thing… well if you really want to know go ahead an e-mail me. lol. Woot! I loved the skit! Thanks a bunch!

**Chapter 8-** Quality Time

School went by meaning it was once again our weekend. It was late Saturday morning. Blake and Cloud were over. Cloud and me were arranging the spare bedroom around which was the last room on the opposite side of the hall from mine, closest to Cloud's house. Sora was playing video games with Blake in his room.

"So are you excited to see Alexa again?" Cloud asked as we put new sheets on the full-sized bed. He had met Alexa once before when we lived back in Star City.

"Yeah of course! I've very family oriented," I reminded him. He laughed.

"Yeah, I know," he smiled.

"Kairi! Alexa's almost here!" my mom called from downstairs.

"Okay!" I called back to her. Cloud and me finished up in the room and walked down the hall. "Come on you two, my cousin's on her way" I said standing in Sora's doorway.

"Alright," Sora said pausing their racing game and standing up.

"Aw man! I was just about to pass Sora up!" Blake complained setting the controller down and getting up.

"No you weren't," Sora smirked as we headed down the stairs.

"Was too!"

"Nope."

"Yeah!"

"Nope." There was a knock at the door. I walked over to get it as the two continued to have their 'yes', 'no' argument.

A younger girl with long straight brown hair with pink highlights and shimmering green eyes stood just on the other side of the open door. She was wearing gold earrings, a diamond locket, hot pink shirt, and jeans with plenty of holes in them with a pink belt that hung sideways off of her waist and pink tennis shoes to match. She was smiling quite a similar to mine.

"Alexa!" I called cheerfully hugging my thirteen year old cousin.

"Hey Kairi!" She smiled walking in.

"Guys, this is my favorite cous' Alexa. Alexa, you remember Cloud, this is his younger brother, Blake, and this is my boyfriend, who lives with us, Sora." I smiled introducing everyone.

"Nice to meet you," Alexa said with a wave.

"Hey mom! Alexa's here!" I called into the house. My mom walked into the living room from the kitchen.

"Oh, how's my baby brother's daughter?" she asked hugging her.

"I'm good," she replied. My dad walked in from the den.

"Hey there Alexa." He hugged her.

"Hi!"

"Here, I'll take your bags," Sora said taking the bags she was holding, Cloud helped.

"Thanks."

"Let's go, I'll show you to your room." I pulled her along up the stairs. "That's my parents room." I pointed to the right once we got to the top of the stairs. "That's Sora's room." Walking down the hall pointing to the room on the right. I pointed to the bathroom between mine and Sora's room across the hall on the left. Next I pointed to my room on the right. Then I showed her the room at the very end of the hall on the left.

"This is a nice room," she said sitting on the bed. There was a decent sized T.V., a desk, and a dresser with a huge mirror on it and a radio.

"Princess is on her way up!" my mom called to us.

"Who?" Alexa asked.

"You'll see," Sora said. Suddenly Princess charged into the room, diving onto the bed and started to lick Alexa.

"Aw! What a cute puppy!" Alexa smiled. I laughed.

"Princess was a get well present from Sora last year," I told her.

"Aw, that's so sweet," she said. Sora grinned. She smiled back. "I better start unpacking."

"We're going back to my room," Sora said getting ready to leave. Cloud was right behind him. Blake just stood there. We all looked at him. Cloud waved his hand in front of him.

"Heeellloooo…" Cloud called to his brother. Blake snapped out of it.

"Oh, sorry, I'm coming," Blake rushed out of the room past Sora and Cloud. I had never seen him that way of all the years I've known Cloud's family. Sora and Cloud walked out while I helped my cousin unpack.

"How about me and you hang out together tomorrow and we can catch up," I suggested.

"Sounds good to me," she smiled putting clothes away in drawers. We began to talk for a while until we were all called down for dinner. Cloud and Blake ate over too. After our fantastic dinner, the two left, Sora, Alexa, and me headed upstairs.

"I better call my parents and let them know how I'm doing," Alexa said at the top of the staircase.

"Alright, night," I replied.

"Night Alexa," Sora waved as she headed to her room.

"Night guys." She walked in her room and closed the door behind her. I started to head to my room. Sora followed. We both sat on my bed as I turned on the TV. Precious came in and laid down next to me. I scratched under her chin as she purred.

"So what are the plans for tomorrow?" Sora asked me.

"Well, I was going to take Alexa out to show her around. After all, this will be her new home town," I said.

"All right, I'll let you have your little girl bonding time." I laughed. "I was going to invite Riku over tomorrow to hang out anyway."

"Sounds good."

Sora smiled at me as he opened his mouth to say something but shut it quickly, "uh…. never mind." I looked at him unbelievingly.

"What?" I asked.

"Never mind." Sora shook his head.

"Sora, please tell me!" I begged.

"Nothing… just never mind." He looked away from me.

"Aw Sora!" I pleaded. He looked at me and I gave him a cute smile I knew he couldn't resist.

"Fine," he sighed. I smiled even wider. "Well, I don't know if I should say anything…"

"Oh, just tell me already," I said eagerly.

"Well, Blake seems to have a crush on your cousin…" Sora said.

"Aw! I had a feeling!" I responded. "That's so cute!"

"Shh… don't say anything." Sora covered my mouth. I nodded in agreement. Sora eyed me suspiciously. I sighed removing his hand.

"I promise I won't say anything," I said in a serious tone. He gave me a half smile before kissing me. He slowly got up, still kissing, which was hard to do. Finally we broke apart when I was on my knees at the end of the bed. He walked to my door and grabbed the door handle.

"Night Kai," Sora smiled sweetly.

"Night," I smiled back before he closed the door. I got up and changed out of my day clothes into my PJ's. I opened the door a little for Precious and Princess to come in and out if they wanted to. I turned off my light and hopped into bed and fell asleep.

The next morning I got up and got ready. Alexa got ready right after. I made breakfast for the whole family while Sora got ready. By the time I was done, everyone was at the table, ready to eat. It was nice to eat with the whole family.

After breakfast, I sent Alexa upstairs to go get her swimsuit under her clothes. She came downstairs after Sora and I finished with the dishes. My parents headed to work. Not long after they left, Riku came by.

"Hey Riku," I said as he walked through the door.

"What's up?" Riku asked.

"Nothing much," Sora answered. "Riku, this is Kairi's cousin Alexa."

"Hey," Riku waved.

"Hi." She waved back. I grabbed my keys.

"All right, let's get going," I said to Alexa.

"Okay. Nice meeting you Riku, Bye guys!" Alexa waved heading out the door.

"Bye," they called back.

"Later Riku, bye Sora." I kissed Sora goodbye before leaving. Alexa and me got into my car and drove to the beach. We grabbed some towels and walked through the warm sand and found our resting spot. We set it up and laid our clothes neatly by our towels. As I was getting ready to sit down, I noticed that my shadow, which was in front of me, wasn't alone. There was a shadow of someone standing behind me. Alexa looked up at the person as I turned around. Shawn was right there. I felt slightly awkward wearing my light blue bikini with him only a couple feet away from me.

"Hey there Kairi, what's up?" Shawn smiled.

"Well, I _was_ just about to spend some quality time with my cousin," I replied sourly. Shawn looked behind me at Alexa.

"Hey." He waved.

"Hi…." I heard her say behind me. I sighed.

"What do you want?" I asked causing him to look at me again.

"I just wanted to ask you a quick question… in private," Shawn said.

"Fine, I'll meet you by that rock in a second." I pointed to a large bolder a little ways off by the main road. He nodded walking over to it. I turned back around putting my clothes back on. Alexa looked at me.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"Shawn. Ugh, I hate him. I'll explain when I get back," I said after slipping on my clothes and headed over towards Shawn. "Okay, what is it?"

"Just an offer," he said simply.

"What do you mean 'just an offer'?" I asked suspiciously.

"Okay, here's the deal. A ton of girls like me at school," he said. I crossed my arms, bored of the subject already. "I even have them fighting for me."

"Okay… that's outrageously conceded of you. The point of this is…?"

"Well, see the only reason I'm not going after all the girls is because of you," Shawn smiled taking my hands in his. "So Kairi, would you be my girlfriend?"

"Are you crazy?" I slapped his hands away from me. "I'm with Sora. It's going to stay that way! And what happened to your Cindy?"

"We weren't ever dating, and there's a simple solution to your dilemma," he shrugged, still not very fazed by my answer.

"That means?" I glared at him.

"Break up with the loser." He seemed bored. Before I knew it, I lost my temped and slapped him across the face.

"You bastard!" I yelled at him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"I'll come back for your answer later," he said walking way. I let out a very frustrated sigh.

"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" I chanted to myself walking back over to Alexa. I plopped down onto my towel and getting into my swimsuit again.

"What happened?" she asked as I laid on my back closing my eyes.

"Shawn asked me out," I said in a low deathly tone.

"But… Sora… doesn't he know about Sora?" she asked.

"Yeah, but with Shawn, nothing stops him," I explained to her.

"Well, least you hardly have to deal with him," she said.

"That's where you're wrong. He lives right across the street. He's in group 'B' with the rest of us, meaning he's in all of my classes."

"Can you tell me what's up with him?" I looked at Alexa.

"Really want to know?" I asked her. She nodded. "Get comfortable." I laid back down and so did she. I closed my eyes and I began to explain why we all had sore feelings towards him. It took up some time since I tried to get every detail in there.

"He's a jerk!" I heard her said. I laughed lightly.

"Yeah he sure is," I agreed. It was quiet. Only the ocean waves crashing onto the sand and the laughter of kids down the beach reached my ears. It was so soothing. I suddenly felt finger tips run down my stomach. My eyes bolted open, jumping up. Sora was bent down where I was laying and Riku was standing behind him. They were both laughing.

"Gosh you're jumpy," Sora laughed.

"I thought it was Shawn," I told them.

"Why would you think that?" Riku asked.

"Because he asked her out," Alexa said.

"He what!" Sora exclaimed. I nodded.

"Don't worry though," I said walking up to him. "I said we were going to stay together."

"Okay." He let out a sigh. "Well, Riku and I were driving by and we saw your car, so we stopped by to give you drinks." Riku handed me two waters. I handed one to Alexa.

"Thanks. I was getting thirsty," I said.

"Yeah, same here," Alexa agreed.

"Well, we better get going," Riku said. "Bye guys."

"Bye," Alexa and me said as Sora and Riku left. Alexa and me hung out at the beach a little while longer before getting dressed and heading back to the car. I drove her around, showing her every place I'd think she'd want to know the location of. Finally our last stop was to see Elizabeth.

"Why are we going here?" Alexa asked getting out of the car.

"I want you to meet someone who's very close to Sora and I," I told her. "Give me a sec." I said pulling out my cell and calling Sora up.

"Hello?" Sora said on the other line.

"Hey Sora. Are you home yet?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Are my parents?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think about us having Elizabeth over for dinner tonight?" I suggested.

"I think she'd love to have a real dinner for once." I heard him laugh. I laughed too.

"Okay, tell my parents that we'll bring her by," I told him.

"Alright, but hurry home because I have a surprise for you. After, we can pick Elizabeth up," Sora said.

"Um… okay."

"Got to go. Love you," Sora said before hanging up. I shrugged it off and I took Alexa inside with me. We took the elevator to room 207. I lightly knocked on the door. Not too long after, Mrs. Conley opened the door.

"Oh Kairi dear, how have you been?" she smiled.

"I'm good," I smiled back. "Elizabeth, I'd like you to meet someone. This is my cousin Alexa."

"Hi," Alexa smiled and waved.

"Why hello." Elizabeth smiled at her.

"Sorry we can't really stay. I have to get home, but would you like to come over and have dinner with my family?" I asked her.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you dear. I would love to enjoy a dinner with you and your wonderful family," She replied.

"Okay, Sora and I will be back later to pick you up," I told her. "Bye."

"Bye, bye." She waved as Alexa and me left.

"That lady seems really sweet," Alexa said getting in the car.

"She sure is," I smiled.

Alexa and me arrived home not too long after visiting Mrs. Conley. Sora was sitting on the couch with Princess when we entered the house. Riku was obviously not here anymore. Alexa headed upstairs to get ready for dinner a little later.

"Hey," Sora smiled walking up to me with his hands behind his back. I eyed him suspiciously.

"Hi…" I replied.

"Put your keys down, then turn around," Sora commanded me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay then, do it," Sora said. I sighed and put my keys on the coffee table and put my back to Sora. Sora whispered in my ear. "Now close you eyes." I did what I was told and soon I felt a blindfold cover my eyes.

"Wait… Sora, what are you-" I was starting to say until he turned me around real fast and placed his finger on my lips.

"Just trust me," he whispered in my ear again. It ran chills down my spine. He removed his hand and pulled me outside. Sora helped me into his truck. I closed the door and Sora got in the drivers seat. It was driving me insane not knowing what was going on. He started the engine and we left home.

"Sora, can I take off the blind fold?" I asked.

"No," he said. I sighed and leaned my head on the window and tried to imagine the scenery outside. After a while, Sora slowed down, came to a stop and turned off the engine. "Hold on, I'll be on the other side to get you." He got out of the truck as I unbuckled my seatbelt. Soon my door opened and I felt Sora's hand on mine. He helped me out.

"Can I look yet?" I asked again.

"No," he said again. "Here I'm going to carry you so you don't get hurt. I was lifted off the ground and Sora began to walk. I was really curious to know why I had to be blindfolded. A few minutes passed by in silence until Sora put me down. He faced me in a certain direction.

"Sora, what are we doing?"

"Just stay silent for a bit," he told me.

"But I really want to kn-" I felt his warm soft lips press lightly on mine. When he pulled away, I remand quiet. He walked behind me and untied my blindfold. Soon a spectacular sight came into focus.

We were on a hill top with very few trees, mainly just tall bright green grass. Orange and blue Monarch butterflies fluttered around. Out in the distance was the city we lived in, with the dark blue ocean sparkling in the setting suns light. On a rock laid a vase with red roses and a teddy bear leaning against it. I quickly turned around to face Sora who had a big grin on his face.

"Sora," I said breathlessly. I turned back around at the view. "This is amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it," Sora said wrapping his arms around me from behind.

"Like it? I love it," I said still amazed. "What… what is this for?"

He leaned in. "Happy anniversary Kai," Sora said quietly. I spun around.

"Wait, what!" I couldn't believe it. I can't believe I forgot that today was Sora's and my one-year anniversary. "I completely forgot…"

"It's okay Kai," Sora laughed. "You wanted to spend time with your cousin. Family always comes first."

"Yeah, but if I would've remembered, I would have waited. Wait, Sora, you are my family too. Heh, in a way it feels like we're married. You know, cause we do live in the same house and all," I said. Sora smiled.

"Yeah, it sure does. You know… I defiantly would love it if you and I were married," Sora said. I smiled and kissed him.

"Me too," I replied. I turned back towards the flowers and the bear. I walked through the tall grass to my gifts. I smiled at the thought of Sora doing this. I put the roses to my nose and let the sweet aroma fill my mind. I set them down and looked out at the view. Sora walked up behind me and held up my left hand in front of us.

"So you never took it off? Even when I moved away?" Sora said. I looked at my hand. The promise ring was still worn on my ring finger. It glistened in the sunlight.

"Of course. You told me as long as I wore the ring, we were destined to be together," I smiled back at him. He kissed my cheek.

He laughed lightly, "you remember when you asked me out?" Sora asked sitting on top of the rock after moving my gifts.

"Yeah," I gave a small laugh. I stood next to him.

"You were so scared. I could tell," Sora teased.

"Hey! I was scared you'd say no," I said sitting on his lap. He put his arms around my stomach and I hugged his arms.

"It was cute though." He hugged me.

"We sure had some great times last year," I said. "But yet some bad things too…."

"Don't remind me," I heard Sora say quietly. I blinked a couple of times and looked at him.

"So are we ignoring when we broke up? Because if not, then it wouldn't be our one year anniversary…"

"Of course I'm ignoring that." Sora got quiet and looked me dead in the eyes. "I was so miserable without you." A small smile appeared on my face.

"I was miserable too." Sora looked down but looked up again. "I didn't think I was going to survive without you. I refused to listen to anyone who told me to date someone else." Sora rested his head on my shoulder; we both looked out into the distance.

"I'm glad," I heard him say. We sat in silence for quite a while, until we stood up. We hugged each other tight. I closed my eyes and listened to the ocean and seagulls off in the distance and the soft soothing rhythmic beat of Sora's heart. I sighed happily.

The wind started to pick up lightly. I could feel the tall grass blades lightly tap at our legs. My eyes slowly opened. Butterflies fluttered by. I slowly looked up into Sora's mystifying ocean blue eyes that just glistened in the setting suns grace. He ran his fingers through my red-brown hair and tucked it behind my ear. A playful smirk brightened his gorgeous tan face.

"Kairi," Sora said in a quiet, caring voice.

"Yeah Sora?" I replied sweetly.

"I want to tell you that you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, inside and out. My eyes were made to only see you, my nose is only to smell the sweet perfume that surrounds you. My lips are here to kiss yours and taste the how sweet your kisses truly are. My ears are here to hear those sweet words that come from your soul. My hands are to take a hold of yours when you need me." Sora took a hold of both of my hands, still looking into my eyes. His voice, quiet but still full of care. "And lastly, my heart, my soul, my everything… it belongs to you Kairi. I love you."

My stomach did twists, "aw…" I said trying not to squeel. My heart was over whelmed by those moving words he told me. My stomach was fluttering like the butterflies that surrounded us. "Sora, you don't even know how much you mean to me. Every part of my being, my very existence is because of you. I live for you. I love you too, Sora." We pulled each other into a passionate kiss that took all of my problems away from our drama-filled lives.

"I think we should go get Elizabeth now," Sora said. I agreed. I got my gifts and Sora and I walked back to his truck. On the way into town, I couldn't help but smile and be thankful to have Sora in my life.

**A/N**: awww, fluffyness! Woot! You got to love the fluff! Oh and for you that haven't read What A Life 3 yet, I have good news, like I said… I'm kinda like Kairi, well I kinda need a Sora right? Right, I finally have one! Woot! Lol, in other words I have a boyfriend now, after being single for over a year (if you read What A Life, you'd know that) Anyways sorry it took me so long to update, it may take longer for chapter 9, but then again maybe not. But I hope you guys liked it! Please review!


	9. Not Again

**Axel-** well I have a habit of calling my cat Precious, who is really five, not one a kitty still, so it goes the same for Princess. Yeah lol.

**Flower Girl**- lol woah that is pretty crazy about Alexa and Melissa. Cool though! Yes, Shawn is a pervert, wait till this chapter… oy… anywho thanks about me being 'unsingle'

lol. : P. Welp, here's chapter 9, yay one more chapter till Halloween!

**Chapter 9-** Not Again

My parents, Elizabeth, Alexa, Sora, and me were all sitting down to my mom's home cooking. My parents and Mrs. Conley were talking while the rest of us talked. We did listen to their conversation though.

"Your children are wonderful," Elizabeth said to my parents.

"Thank you. We are glad that they're such good kids," my dad said. The three of us smiled.

"We're very blessed," my mom smiled.

"You should be. They really are fantastic and very mature for their age." Elizabeth put her arm around my shoulders hugging me.

"Yes they are," my mom agreed. The phone rang. "Kairi, could you go get that please."

"Sure." I got up and went into the kitchen where one of the phones was located. I picked it up.

"Kairi?" a females voice said through the phone.

"Yes?"

"Oh, hello dear. It's Sora's mother," Sora's mom said.

"Oh hi. How have you been?" I asked.

"Very good thank you. How about you?"

"Same."

"That's good. Well, is Sora there?" she asked.

"Yes he is, I'll go get him."

"Thank you." I set the phone down and walked into the dinning room.

"Sora, your mom's on the phone," I told him sitting back down at the table.

"Alright, I'll be right back," Sora said getting up. He walked into the kitchen. The rest of us talked until he came back a while later. Sora walked in and sat back down.

"So what did she need?" I asked.

"I'm going to visit them over Christmas break for the first week. They sent the tickets already," Sora answered.

"I bet you miss them, huh?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, I really do," Sora answered truthfully. I smiled faintly at him.

After dinner, Sora drove Elizabeth back to the elderly care center while the rest of us cleared the table. After we did that, my dad went into the den to work, my mom did some extra chores, Alexa went to play with Princess out back, and I headed upstairs to my room.

Precious was fast asleep on my pillow. I ran my fingers through her long white fur. Her aqua eyes opened and peered at me through her bushy orange tail. She started to purr. I smiled at her as I got my diary out. I sat on my bed and began to write.

_Dear Diary, _

_Today Sora took me to this beautiful meadow area and got me a teddy bear and roses for our one year anniversary. It was so sweet of him. Alexa's here too, they're moving a few streets away but Alexa is staying with us for this month. It's pretty cool since she'll be going to school with us. I better go, I just remembered I have homework._

_Love always, Kairi_

The next morning I got ready for school and headed downstairs. Alexa and Sora were eating breakfast. I sat down with them.

"So are you excited?" Sora asked Alexa.

"Um, so, so," she replied.

"Okay, we have some idiots at school…" I started to say.

"Shawn," Sora said in between coughs. "Hum, sorry, something was in my throat." We all laughed.

"Anyways, but there are better people to make up for it. If you ever need anything, come find us," I smiled.

"Thanks Kai," Alexa smiled back. The three of us finished up our breakfast before heading out. We met up with our friends out front. I introduced everyone as we walked to school. Besides Alexa being our newest addition to the group, there was someone else.

"Blake? How come you're not walking with your friends to school?" I asked suspiciously, even though I perfectly knew why. Sora glanced at me but I just smiled sweetly at him.

"I, uh, well I decided to hang with the cool people. Plus, I figured I could show Alexa around since we're in the same grade. That is… if you want me to," Blake said looking at Alexa.

"Sure," she smiled. "I'd appreciate that." I smiled at the two before Sora nudged me. We all began to talk until we got to school and went to class, while Blake showed Alexa where the councilors office was. Our group sat in our normal seats, waiting for the bell to ring. Shawn walked in as soon as it rang. He smirked at me. I rolled my eyes and looked to the front.

"Sorry for the interruption but we would like to announce that at the end of this month we're going to have a Halloween Bash in the main gym." The guy over the PA system said. "Its school appropriate clothing only. The time is from seven to midnight. Hope to see you all there!"

"Well, that sounds fun," Mrs. Davis said. The phone rang. She sighed in frustration and answered it. After she hung up, she looked at Wakka. "Wakka, they need you in the office." He nodded and left.

"Hum, I wonder what he did," I heard Tidus say behind me. I was thinking the same thing but before I could tell Tidus that, we started class. English class dragged on like normal. After the bell rang we walked to the next building towards our history class.

"Kairi, can I talk to you?" Lissa asked as we headed downstairs to get outside.

"Yeah, sure," I agreed as everyone kept walking and talking. We waited until everyone was ahead of us. "What is it?"

"Well, I have another drawing," she said pulling out her notebook out of her bag. She flipped through a couple drawings before handing it to me.

"Aw, this is so sweet!" I smiled. In my hands was a picture of Lissa and Josh holding hands, facing each other. White doves were flying around them and they were standing in a meadow. (**A/N**: Thanks Lili-Sama for the idea: D )

"You think so?" Lissa asked. I looked at her.

"You really like him don't you?" I said quietly. She nodded taking the notebook and putting it away.

"That's why I have a question," Lissa stated.

"Go on." I urged her.

"Well, I saw how Selphie got Irvine's attention by singing in the band, well, I was, uh, wondering…" Lissa seemed nervous.

"You want to know if you can perform to catch Josh's attention?" I questioned.

"Exactly," she answered. A smile appeared on my face.

"Do you have a song in mind?"

"Yeah actually, do you know the group D.H.T?" Lissa asked.

"Of course! I love all their songs and know them all by heart," I told her. (**A/N**: It's true too!) She laughed.

"Well, do you know the song 'Someone'?" she mentioned.

"Yeah! That's one of my favorites!" I exclaimed. (**A/N**: that and Listen To Your Heart!) She laughed again.

"Well, that's what I want to sing."

"Oh, what a perfect song!" I smiled at her. I saw her blush.

"Don't tell anyone why I'm going to sing. Please Kai."

"You can count on me."

"I know." We walked to class together. Soon our classes passed by and lunch came. Still no sign of Wakka, but since Tidus has the same group as him, I figured I'd ask.

"So, where's Wakka?" I asked sitting down at the table.

"Eating with Lulu," Tidus answered.

"Isn't that the chick he had a crush on last year?" Namine asked.

"Yeah, they went to homecoming together last year," Riku answered.

"Why the sudden interest again?" Amanda asked.

"Well after going to the office first period, he 'bumped' into her in the hall. They started a conversation and she said she wanted him to eat lunch with her," Tidus said.

"So that conversation would explain why he never came back," Cloud laughed. I was smiling at the comment until I noticed Tidus kind of upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. He looked at me.

"Oh, uh, nothing." He looked down at his plate.

"Come on, we're all your friends, tell us," Sora said.

"Well, I'm left out of everything," Tidus said.

"What do you mean?" Josh asked.

"Everyone has someone but me," Tidus said. "Sora and Kairi, Riku and Amanda, Cloud and Namine, Wakka and Lulu, Selphie and Irvine…."

"Speaking of Selph, where is she?" Nam said looking around.

"Eating with Irvine, her new boyfriend," Cloud said.

"See, everyone. I'm also sure Josh and Lissa will be together in no time," Tidus finished. I noticed Lissa blush and Josh look away nervously. I bit my lip so I wouldn't end up smiling.

"Aw Tidus, I'm sure someone likes you. Everyone likes someone. You'll find her," I said reassuringly.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked.

"Because I'm Kairi," I smiled.

"But-"

"Don't argue with girls…" Amanda said. We smiled at each other. He sighed.

"Just trust me and believe," I said. He stalled a bit before nodding. (**A/N**: ha! I had that same exact conversation with someone the other day, and it's true to all the people who don't think they'll ever have someone!)

"Um, so did you ever find out why Wakka went to the office?" Sora questioned.

"Oh, yeah. He said that we're performing at the Halloween Bash," Tidus answered Sora's question.

"Nice," Cloud said.

"This should be fun!" Namine smiled. We agreed, soon lunch ended and we finished our afternoon classes. We went to our lockers and put everything away. Everyone but me started to walk down the hall until Sora stopped.

"Come on Kai, it's the end of the day. What are you doing?" he asked.

"You guys go on. I have to find Alexa," I said.

"Do you want us to help?"

"No, no. Go on. I'll be home soon."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

Sora looked kind of skeptical. "All right…"

"Bye guys!" We all waved. I waited until they headed down the stairs until I began to search the now almost fully deserted hallways. I searched the entire second floor then the bottom and finally the second building. There was still no sign of Alexa. I was starting to feel panicked knowing I'd be killed if I let something happened to Alexa. Finally to my relief my cell phone rang, it was Sora.

"Kairi, I can come get you if you want. Alexa's home," Sora told me.

"Thank god. Uh, no thanks. I feel like walking," I told him.

"All right, but if you want, call me."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you, too." We hung up. I headed down the stairs in the front of the school. I saw someone leaning against the trunk of the big oak tree planted in the front of our school. My eyes narrowed and my hands turned into fists realizing who this person was. (**A/N**: warning, I was kind of in a bad mood when I wrote this part, so there are couple cussing words in a little bit, but this next part is actually really kind of funny.)

"Where are your loyal buddies Kairi?" Shawn mocked.

"I'd like to ask the same, _Shawn_," I mocked back.

"Well, I saw your friends go home, so I sent mine off, too. That way we have some alone time together if you know what I mean." He winked. I rolled my eyes in disgust. Shawn put his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him.

"My answer is still no." I spun away crossing my arms.

"I think if we spend some time together, you'll change your mind." I started to walk home but he followed close behind.

"Stop following me, you stalker," I said still walking.

"We live across the street Kairi," he reminded me.

"Damn," I said under my breath. I kept on walking and he continued on behind me at my pace but soon speed up so he was next to me.

"Why are you walking away so fast?"

"Because I don't like you and I want to be as far away from you as possible," I said to him through my teeth.

"Aw, burn. Man, baby girl, that hurt," he said. Is he trying to be a want-to-be gangster? I looked at him in shock. We both stopped. He grinned at me. "You can't handle not being away from me and you know it."

"You're a moron," I said looking ahead and started walking again.

"Come on baby girl, give me a chance." He caught up to me again. "You're so beautiful. Guys should be swarming to get you."

"Lame way to flatter me," I said with a yawn. "They have brains, that's what separates them from you."

"What's what supposed to mean?" he asked kind of shocked that I had said that.

"You're an idiot who can't take a hint. That's what I mean."

"But Baby girl-."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Don't you like it? It's your own nickname."

"I hate it. I don't need a nickname, especially from you."

"It's amazing how sweet you were when we first me, I just thought you were some goody-goody," Shawn said. "Now I see you have flare, and I love that in a girl."

"I don't see how you've ever managed to get a girlfriend. You're a bigheaded jerk with the cockiest attitude I have _ever _met. I never thought you were like this when we first met."

"Girls love me. You seem to be the only one otherwise. That's why I want you. To change your mind." He stopped me.

"I. Don't. Like. You," I said straight to his face. "Ever since you tired making a move on me, I've lost all my respect for you." I continued walking. He followed me. "It feels like you're stalking me."

"Well, I'm not," he said from behind. We kept walking. Finally, I was getting ready to turn the corner of the street we lived on. Shawn hadn't said a word that whole time. Before I even realized what happened, someone picked me up and put me over their shoulder and ran into the side yard of a house that was for sale. The door was unlocked for an open house that was going to be showing in about an hour.

"Put me down!" I yelled. Finally I was dropped to the ground in a vacant room. I slid a little on the hardwood floor. Shawn locked the door behind him. I quickly got to my feet when he turned around. "Are you planning on raping me or something you sick disgusting pervert!"

"I'm not like that," he said seriously and glared at me. I just returned it.

"Then why the hell are we here?" I asked.

"Because I want you to listen to me. Hear me out." He crossed his arms and walked over to me. I examined him. If I didn't know any better, he could of really passed off as Sora's twin. His sparkling green eyes made a difference though, and his hair wasn't as wild, the facial structure was a little different as well.

"Why did you lock the door?" I asked.

"That way you stay here until I'm through."

"Get it over with. People are waiting for me at home." He came really close to me.

"I think you should go out with me because I can make you happy. Get you want you want. I'll treat you like a princess. I want you to see I'm not a bad guy. Come on baby girl give me a chance. Usually you can tell if the chemistry is there by a kiss."

"What the hell makes you think I'd ever give you a chance by you doing this! Too bad you're not getting a kiss. I also told you to stop calling me baby girl," I hissed to him.

"Just one kiss." He pinned me to the wall. '_Oh god, not again_.' I cried in my head. I shut my eyes tightly to think of a plan. Luckily, it didn't take too long.

"Wait, close your eyes…" I told him seductively, praying it would work. "I'll show you want you really need."

"Hum, I like where this is going." He closed his eyes. I smirked and put my hands around the back of his neck as if I were going to pull him into a deep passionate kiss. I bent my knee up and kneed him where it hurt. He yelled and fell to the floor in pain. I smiled successfully and jumped over him to get to the door. He grabbed my ankle when I landed causing me to fall to the hardwood floor with a loud clunk.

"Let me go!" I yelled at him kicking. He actually let me go. I got up as fast as I could and tugged at the door handle. I tired to unlock it but he locked it with a key, a key I didn't have.

"Give me the key goddamnit!" I yelled at him.

"Or what?" he asked, still in pain. He was trying to get up.

"I'll call the cops for kidnap! If you don't want that on your record, you better just give me the god damn key!" I screamed.

"God you're such a bitch," he said harshly. I was seriously starting to think he was bipolar or something.

"Oh fuck off, asshole," I growled at him.

"Here." Shawn threw the key at me. I quickly unlocked the door and ran out. I ran as fast as I could to get home. I rushed inside my house, up the stairs, and into Sora's room where he was watching TV on his bed. I dived on top of him and kissed him. I hugged him tightly.

"Woah, Kairi, um, what's up?" I could tell he felt a little awkward with me right on top of him, so I rolled off. "Why are you home so late? Is everything okay?" A look of concern traced his eyes.

"I'll explain…" I proceeded to tell him what happened after school. I could see his anger building inside, especially with Shawn taking me to that house.

"Why that good for nothing mother fu-" I put my hand over Sora's mouth but soon replaced it with my lips. I pulled back.

"I don't want to talk about him," I told Sora. He nodded but I could tell he wanted to rip him a new one. As soon as I was getting up, my cell phone rang. I looked to see who it was. "Hey Amanda."

"How'd you know it was me?" she sounded confused.

"Hello, it's called a cell phone with stored numbers, caller ID in other words," I laughed trying to clear my mind of everything that just happened.

"Oh yeah!" She laughed, too. "Hey Kai, I was wondering if you, Sora, Alexa, Cloud, and Namine wanted to go with the rest of us to pick out Halloween costumes?"

"That sounds fun!"

"Hee, alright. How about after school tomorrow?"

"Great! I'll talk to Cloud and Namine."

"Alrighty! See you tomorrow, bye."

"Bye," I said hanging up my phone. Sora looked at me.

"What sounds fun?" he asked.

"Going Halloween costume hunting after school tomorrow."

"I hate shopping," Sora said bluntly.

"I know, but you're coming," I laughed walking out of his room to mind to do homework.

The next day came. I avoided straight eye contact with Shawn all day. My friends said he did the same. After school, we dropped off all our things at the house before discussing how we were going to shopping with so many people. Our original group came, plus the additions of Blake, Irvine, Alexa, and Lulu. I looked around the room at all fifteen chatting people. '_How in the world does a group of eight at the beginning of Junior year turn into fifteen at the beginning of Senior year?_' I asked myself. '_Well, we added Amanda… then Josh, Lissa… oh forget this, we need to get going!_'

"Okay everyone, we should start going," I called but no one seemed to hear me.

"Um, this is a lot of people," Amanda said standing next to me. I nodded.

"I can't get them to shut up either…" I said to her. "Who would be loud eno-"

"Shut up!" Amanda yelled. A wave a silence fell over everyone. I looked at her wide-eyed. She smiled sweetly at me.

"Uh, thanks," I said kind of amazed at how loud she could actually be.

"Yep!"

"Uh, anyway, we should really get going," I said. "But it'd be easiest if we split into two groups. Boys and girls."

"Why boys and girls?" Josh asked.

"So we can give each other costume advice, duh!" Selphie smiled, answering exactly how I was going to.

"Girls," Riku rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" Namine said. The guys laughed.

"I think we better go before it gets too late," Lulu said.

"I agree. We'll see you boys later!" I waved as the girls and I left.

"So where should we go?" Lissa asked.

"Town Square is a good place," Amanda suggested.

"What's Town Square?" Alexa asked.

"It has every store imaginable, plus restaurants," Selph answered.

"It's the coolest," Namine smiled.

"I think we should hurry and beat the boys. They know Town Square will have everything," I said. They agreed. We high-tailed it to find the perfect costumes.

**A/N**: yay chapter 9 is here! Meaning Chapter 10, the Halloween Bash will be here soon! I really did try to get the holidays together with the month they were in, but I ended up falling behind, so we're having Halloween on Christmas… lol. Oh I wont be updating What A Life 3 or Dear Diary 2 until after the 21st because I'm going to Disneyland on the 17th. So anyways, I hope you liked this chapter! Please Review: D.


	10. Halloween Bash

**Authors Note:** Hey guys, I just got back from Disneyland, California Adventure and Universal Studios the other day, I had a blast! I got loads of ideas for my stories, all three of them, yes that's right **THREE**. This should be a new obstacle to get through, but I can do it! Anywho, hope you all enjoy this chapter!

**Flower Girl-** lol yup! Halloween on Christmas, it's like the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, it was made up like the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. It was awesome! Lol yup the Halloween bash is this chapter! Woot! And yeah I got to beat up Shawn! Ha that'd be fun to do in real life. Yeah 15 ppl, soon 16, its getting crazy! Lol very unique skit, loved it like normal though: D. Anywho hope u like this chapter! (gosh, I swear I need to lay off the exclamation points lol)

**Yukixtohru**- Thanks and of course there's another chapter, right here! Since it's going to be longer the Dear Diary, there will be more then 27 chapters to look forward to!

"**blank"- **yeah there was a lot of swearing but like I said, I was kinda in a grumpy mood when I wrote that, and hey it made the story have more 'pizzazz' lol. Welp, I finally got around to updating, hope u like it!

**Chapter 10**- The Halloween Bash

The girls and I finally arrived to Town Square. I gazed out at the area. It was a shopping plaza with tons of stores linked together. A few restaurants and fast food joints were placed randomly in the plaza. Tables were placed out in front of the food places if you wanted to eat outside. Birds hopped along eating crumbs left over from the people eating outside. The water fountains that shimmered with coins people threw in them had benches place in front. The community kept it clean so it kept that new look even though it was nearly ten years old.

"Wow," Alexa said looking around.

"Cool huh?" Lissa said.

"Yeah!" she replied with much enthusiasm. I laughed.

"Let's split up into two groups," Selphie suggested.

"Who's going with who?" Namine asked.

"Lissa and Lulu can come with me," Selphie smiled.

"Alright," Lulu said. Lissa nodded.

"Okay, let's go!" Amanda said running to a near by boutique as Namine, Alexa, and me followed. The little store had very casual young adult clothes for both genders. They had a section for Halloween costumes too. We started to search through the racks. A girl, our age, with short brown with one green eye and the other one blue which were very pretty, and a tall slender body walked up to us. Her voice was very gentle.

"Can I help you with anything?" she asked politely. Everyone turned to her.

"Actually, yeah. Do you have any Disney costumes?" Namine asked.

"Like Princesses?" the girl asked. Nam nodded. "Yes, over here." She led Namine to a rack a little bit down for where we were.

"Oh, I wanna look!" Alexa said going over too. I looked out the large glass windows. To my surprise, Tidus was walking in.

"Hey Tidus," I smiled.

He waved walking over. "Having any luck?" he asked.

"Just started looking," Amanda informed him. "How about you guys?"

"They actually went to eat," Tidus laughed.

"Figures," I laughed too. I saw Tidus looking around until he suddenly froze. I followed his gaze to see what he was looking at. The female associate, Namine, and Alexa were looking at costumes when the girl looked up. A smile crept on my face.

"Hi," she smiled. Tidus gulped.

"H-hi," he said. "I'm… I… I'm Tidus."

She giggled. "Hi, I'm Yuna," she replied. She looked at us. "Sorry, I never introduced myself."

"Oh, it's okay," I reassured her. "I'm Kairi."

"Amanda," Amanda waved.

"Namine."

"Alexa."

"Nice to meet you all," Yuna said.

"Same," I smiled. Tidus stood still and dumbstruck. He quickly snapped out of it and began to look through the costume rack frantically but glanced up at the new teenage girl. I couldn't help but laugh. I shook my head smiling and continued to look for a costume.

"Oh my gosh!" Amanda yelled excitedly pulling out a costume. She held up a renaissance dress that flowed out to the ground. The outside was a shiny pearly white, while the inside layer was a shiny burgundy. The sleeves were tight until the elbow where it belled out. The lace was shimmery. "It's perfect!"

"Amanda, that's so you," I smiled. She grinned in return. The rest of us continued to look. Soon Alexa found her outfit, which was the same dress that Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, wore in the formal dance, except instead of it being yellow, it was pink.

"Yay, I found a costume!" she exclaimed. Namine and me laughed. Yuna continued to help Namine while Tidus and I looked around. Tidus still continued to glance up every once in a while.

"Tidus, you're drooling. Just go talk to her," I said. He gave me a nervous laugh.

"I will… just not now," he said. I rolled my eyes. A costume finally grabbed my attention and apparently Namine found one too since we both held them up at the same time. She held up the blue gown Cinderella had worn to the ball.

I had an angel costume. It was pure white, a low cut 'V'-neck, raggedly cut at the bottom that went to my knees. The sleeves were long and bell shaped. The wings were soft little feathers. The halo was the same feathery material with ribbons hanging on the back.

"Perfect," I smiled at my angel costume.

"If you guys are ready, I can help you over here," Yuna said walking over to the cash register. We paid for our costumes and thanked Yuna for all her help. We started out the door when I noticed Yuna walk to the back room and Tidus standing at the counter.

"Come on Tidus," I called to him while the girls were talking outside. He turned to me.

"Go on with out me," he waved. I smiled and met up with Namine, Amanda and Alexa.

"Where's Tidus?" Namine asked.

"He's talking to Yuna," Amanda smiled. I looked at her surprised.

"How'd you know?" I questioned.

"It's so obvious that he likes her," Alexa said.

"Yuna kept asking about him when she was helping me find a costume," Namine mentioned.

"Well, it looks like Tidus wont be left out after all, just like what I said before," I smiled. The three of them smiled back.

"You guys!" we heard a little ways off. Selphie, Lissa and Lulu were running to us. "We found costumes!"

"Same here," Amanda held up hers. We all showed each other what we had. Lissa held up a gypsy outfit that was a deep velvet purple color and gold. Lulu held up a very gothic costume with chains, spikes, and blacks and deep reds. Selphie held up a Destiny High cheerleading outfit that was our school colors with a large 'D' on the front. I raised an eyebrow.

"A cheerleader?" I asked.

"Yeah, I know, but hey it's the only time of year you can be something you're not," Selphie shrugged.

"True," I agreed. I saw the boys walking up. We all quickly hid our costumes behind our backs.

"Hey, you guys decided what you're going to be?" Wakka asked.

"Yep!" Selphie smiled.

"Are you going to show us?" Irvine said.

"Nope!" we all said in unison.

"Woah… surround sound," Riku said looking at us.

"How come?" Sora asked.

"It's a surprise silly!" I grinned. They al rolled their eyes.

"Hey, where's Tidus?" Cloud looked around.

"In there." I pointed behind me in the boutique. Everyone turned to look.

"He's talking to her!" Alexa cried out excitedly. All of us ran to the windows and peered inside. I'm sure it looked funny with fourteen teenagers gluing their faces to the window to see inside.

"Who's that girl?" Blake asked.

"Her name is Yuna," Namine answered.

"She works here," Amanda added.

"Does he like her?" Lissa questioned.

"Seems like it," Lulu said. We fell silent trying to see if we could hear what they were talking about.

"Can anyone understand them?" Riku asked.

"It sounds like a bunch of mumbling to me," Josh responded.

"Same here," Selphie said. Yuna smiled and so did Tidus. They walked out of our view behind some manikins in the front of the store.

"Hey! Where'd they go?" Cloud said. We all looked but didn't see either of them.

"Wait, there's Yuna!" Amanda said.

"Then where's Tidus?" Sora asked.

"Uh, what are you guys doing?" a voice from behind asked. We all turned around.

"Well, he's right there," I said answering Sora's question.

"Were you guys spying me?" Tidus asked.

"No," we all replied simultaneously. '_Well, that's not obvious_.' I thought sarcastically.

"So who's the girl?" Wakka asked.

"Yuna. She's been home schooled but she's actually going to Destiny High at the end of the month," Tidus said.

"Oh how cool!" I smiled.

"I asked her to the Halloween Bash," he said.

"Way to go!" Cloud said giving him a high five.

"I told you you'd find someone!" I reminded him. He only laughed.

The boys got their Halloween shopping after our discussion on Yuna and Tidus. Over the weekend we practiced our songs for the Halloween Bash. The songs we picked were 'Time of Your Life', 'Wake Me Up When September Ends', 'Someone' for Lissa, and 'Don't Even Try it', and 'Haunted' for me to sing to Shawn. They were perfect for my feelings towards him. As the month progressed, we got more excited about the dance.

Finally, it was here. All the guys decided to get ready at Cloud's while the girls got ready at my house. Namine, Alexa, Selphie, Lissa and Lulu piled into the bathroom and Alexa's room while Amanda and me were in my room. Amanda was looking in my closet as I was applying glitter to my eyelids to give me the angelic look.

"Hey Kairi, what's this?" Amanda pulled out a box labeled 'memories', the one I had shown Namine before homecoming last year.

"Oh, that's a box I keep things in so I can go back every once in a while to look back on," I responded as she handed me the box. Amanda sat next to me on the bed as I opened it. I looked through the box with all my old memories, I was rummaging through when I spotted that soda tab that had an 'S' written on it, I pulled it out.

"This brings back memories," I sighed. Amanda looked at me kind of with a worried expression.

"Didn't you say that whatever letter you land on they could potentially be your future boyfriend or girlfriend?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah…" I said still not catching on to what she was getting at.

"Look at the letter Kai," she said holding it up.

"Yeah an 'S'. So what it's Sora…" I said completely clueless.

"No, no, no. Who else starts with an 'S' that we know of?" she asked. My mind was flipping through all the names I knew, it seemed to take a while before it clicked. My stomach dropped. I felt sick to my stomach. I gulped.

"Shawn," I said as if someone knocked the air out of me. Amanda continued to look worried.

"Hey are you guys ready?" Alexa asked coming into my room. We both looked up.

"Yeah," We both said standing up.

"The guys are downstairs. I think we should all go one at a time," Selphie told us. All of us nodded in agreement.

"I'll go first. I'll announce!" Alexa exclaimed. Her brown hair was up just like Belle's. The gown fit her well. Alexa smiled before heading down the stairs.

"Where are all the girls?" I heard Riku ask.

"First up is Lulu," we heard Alexa announce. Lulu had dark make-up on to match her gothic costume. She waved at us as she made her way down.

"Man Lu, you look hott!" Wakka exclaimed. All of us laughed upstairs.

"Next is Selphie!" Selphie grabbed her orange and golden yellow pom-poms before jogging down the stairs.

"She could pass as a cheerleader..." Namine said.

"Yeah she could," Lissa agreed.

"The next girl is Namine!" Alexa called. Our Cinderella dressed Namine waved before leaving.

"Cloud's probably breathless." Amanda laughed Lissa and me did too.

"Up next, Amanda!"

"Well, I'll see you in a second," Amanda said.

"Okay," I smiled as she walked away. I sighed. For some reason, I was nervous… or anxious, I couldn't even tell. I also had that thought of Amanda's and my discussion on the soda tab in the back of my head. I quickly glanced at my outfit. My white, two-inched heals were laced up to my mid-calf. Not a crease was in my white angel costume. In the hallway mirror I was my face with light colored make-up and glitter. My hair was wavy and my little halo was placed perfectly on my head and the ribbons on the back were at the length of my hair.

"Nervous?" Lissa asked.

"For some reason, yeah," I laughed hastily.

"Tonight should be fun Kai," she said reassuringly.

"Yeah I know."

"Lissa is up!" Lissa looked at me shyly before walking down to meet the others.

"Why am I so nervous?" I asked myself. I let out a small sigh.

"Last but not least, Kairi!" Finally I had been announced. I ran my hands down my dress before slowly walking down the stairs. I walked down the stairs before making the turn into the hallway to see everyone. I knew my parents were there. I took a deep breath before turning. Thirty-two eyes gazed up at me (**A/N**: wowo that's a LOT of eyes). A small smile took over my face as I grabbed the rail to get down the last steps. I finally reached the bottom and walked up to Sora who was at the bottom.

"Wow…" he whispered. "You look beautiful tonight Kairi."

"Thanks," I blushed. "You all look good."

Sora was a skater boy. He had a big blue shirt on with the words 'Volcom' on the front. He wore baggy pants and big skater shoes. Sora also had on kneepads and elbow pads, a helmet hanging off the side of his head unbuckled and black fingerless gloves.

Riku was a vampire. A long black cape covered the back of his black tux. When he smiled, I noticed he had fangs. I let out a small laugh.

Surprisingly Cloud was Prince Charming. It worked perfectly for Namine being Cinderella.

Blake was surprisingly matching Alexa's costume idea by being the beast in his human form. Those two looked so cute.

Josh was dressed up as a basketball player, Wakka was soccer player, and Tidus was a football player. Obviously they all went for the sporting scene. Irvine dressed as a cowboy, very fitting for him.

"Well, we should start going," Josh said. All of us agreed.

"Have fun kids," my dad said as we started out the door.

"Stay safe," my mom called. I waved to them before closing the door.

"We should use cars…" Amanda said.

"Why?" Cloud asked.

"Because we're all in heels," she answered.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Riku asked.

"How about Sora, Alexa, Blake, Tidus, and me in my car. Riku, Amanda, Lulu, Wakka, and Lissa in Riku's car. Cloud, Namine, Selphie, Irvine, and Josh in Cloud's car," I suggested.

"Sounds good, 'cept I'll drive," Sora said pulling out his keys. We all began to separate to get to each car. After the fifteen of us got into three cars, we drove to school. Yuna met us out front. She was dressed as a singstress (**A/N**: the purple outfit she wears in FF-X2).

"Kids!" someone called from the gym entrance. We all looked over. Our principal was waving for our attention. "Come this way! We're going to introduce you in five minutes!" He went inside and so did we. One Destiny warmed up while Alexa, Blake, Lissa, Josh, Wakka, Lulu, and Yuna waited for us to perform. We sang our first three songs before we introduced Lissa.

"We have a special guest. Lissa, can you come up," Sora motioned her on stage. I handed her a mic. She smiled shyly.

"I asked Kairi if I could sing tonight. For these last couple months I've gained her trust and vise-versa. She knows my real reason for being up here tonight. Now I'd like to share it with all of you," Lissa pulled out some pieces of paper, which were the drawings of her and Josh. "Here Josh, these are for you and same with this song." We all got ready as Sora helped her sing her song.

Everyone went wild. Josh seemed completely shocked that someone would do that for him. He looked over at me and made me hand him a mic.

"Melissa. I care and feel the same way. Please tell me you'll be my someone." We all looked from Josh to Lissa. A grin appeared on her face.

"Of course." The school whooped, clapped, and cheered. She got off stage and Josh greeted her with a kiss and hug. She blushed.

"Let's give Melissa another round of applause for that wonderful performance!" I said getting the mic back. The crowd did so. "This next song is for a special someone out in the audience." (**A/N**: I love this song, it works for the feelings towards Shawn and for Halloween).

_Long lost words whisper slowlyto meStill can't find what keeps me hereWhen all this time I've been so hollowinside(I know you're still there)_

_Watching meWanting meI can feel you pull me downFearing youloving youI wont let you pull me down_

_Hunting you I can smellyou—aliveYour heart pounding in my head_

_Watching mewanting meI won't let you pull me downSaving meRaping meWatching me_

(Riku's guitar solo with a spot light. The girls in the crowd were screaming)

_Watching me (_I sang the _Ooh)Wanting me (Ooh)I can feel you pull me downFearing you (Ooh)loving you (Ooh)I won't let you pull me down_

The crowd enjoyed our performance since they were jumping up and down to the music. They all clapped as we waved and headed off the stage.

"Hey Sora," A girl with two of her friends met up with us. "Uh, we were wondering if you, Cloud, and Riku wanted to dance with us."

"Only if it's okay with Kairi, Namine, and Amanda of course," One of the other girls added. The three of us looked at each other. Everyone else had left to go dance.

"Sure," Namine said. The three girls grinned and drug our guys into the crowd.

"Oh! What's that?" Amanda pointed to the hall entrance from the gym, yet it wasn't a hall entrance anymore. "Oh! A haunted house!"

"Excuse me, would you three very beautiful young ladies care to dance?" Three guys dressed up in tux's, white gloves, hats, black shoes, and fancy eye masks said. I couldn't tell who any of them were.

"Uh, sure." The guys each held out a hand. I took the guy who was in the middle and we went to the dance floor. Once we found a spot he turned to me. He gently placed his hands lightly on my waist and I laced my figures around the back of his neck. I looked up at his eyes but I couldn't tell the color through the mask and the shading of his hat.

"So what's you're name?" I decided to ask.

"Just call me Zorro for now," he smiled lightly.

"Alright, _Zorro_, are you new here or something?"

"Well Kairi, you could say I'm new this school year," I smiled. "You have a beautiful smile," Zorro said.

"Heh, thanks."

"So that last song you preformed, whom did you sing it to?" he asked.

"Oh, well, see there's this guy named Shawn. Well he likes me a lot and won't leave me alone. He was a sweet guy until he met Sora," I said.

"Well any guy who didn't like you would be insane, even if not in a girlfriend type of way, just a friend."

"Aw that's sweet of you." We danced a little more until the song was over. "Thanks for the dance, uh I guess I'll see you around." I was turning around to leave when he stopped me.

"Wait." He took me by the hand and made me look at him. He had a burgundy red rose, handing it to me. I was surprised. "Goodnight." He bowed slightly and kissed the top of my hand that was in his before he spun around and walked through the people.

"Hey Kai," Amanda said from behind me. "Kai?"

"Yeah…" I said still in shock.

"Oh, pretty rose, where'd you get it?" She asked.

"Zorro gave it to me," I said looking at her.

"Zorro?"

"Who ever it was that I danced with."

"Aw he seems sweet."

"Yeah, he really was." (**A/N**: Okay no, she's not falling for 'Zorro' so don't worry!)

"Hey Kairi, would you wanna go to the haunted house, hallway thingy with me?" Amanda asked me.

"Yeah, sure," I smiled. The two of us walked over to the hallway entrance. Amber and Christy were at the doorway.

"Hey guys!" Amber smiled. She was dressed as a dead bride.

"Welcome to our haunted house," Christy, who was a Native American, said opening the door. I handed her my rose to hold until I came back around to get it later.

"Thanks," we both said as we stepped in the dark hall. There was a curtain blocking the hallway. At the very bottom of it I could see lights flashing, screams were heard along with evil laughter. Amanda and I looked back. Christy and Amber were closing the doors and looking at us.

"Wait until the doors are all the way shut before proceeding through the curtain and hallway," Amber said. They both smirked and shut the doors. We both took a deep breath and looked at the black curtain.

"Ready?" Amanda asked.

"Ready when you are," I answered. We both reached in front of us to pull the curtain aside.

"Kairi…. Amanda…" A deep eerie voice called to us from the other side of the curtain. "We're waiting for you…." It whispered before fading away.

**A/N**: ha done! Yay! Little cliffies in 2 of my stories now lol. Hope you all liked it! Like I said it's Halloween on Christmas. Anywho, love to hear reviews! **Happy Holiday's everyone!**

**Reminder!** I'm still willing to add people to the last chapter of Dear Diary 2 (which is far away from now), so if you want to be in there and you haven't told me so already…. Tell me now… I will be messaging you if you already are going to be in the story and reminding you of the info I have and what I still need from you. Thanks guys!


	11. Halloween Bash prt2

**A/N**: So yeah, I finally got around to updating! I really hope you all enjoyed your break, or still enjoying it to those of you who are still kicken back. Lol. So I really didn't intend to make two chapters for the Halloween Bash, but I ended up doing so. Anywho I hope you guys like this chapter! Oh, by the way, I wanted to thank you all for the awesome reviews I've been getting!

**The money ordeal for DD2**: The question seems to come up a lot about where they're all getting their money since they do go out a lot. It's true that I haven't mentioned that and I'm sorry to any of you who were confused about the whole money thing. Here's the thing, well if you remember Kairi's cousin Alexa and her parents are rich, which also means that Kairi comes from a rich family, just not millionaires or anything... just, decent with some extra money. Also, Kairi's and Cloud's parents work together, and well they work for a big company which serves all of the Destiny Islands (you can only imagine it must bring in some big bucks). The rest of them, well they come from decent families that bring in more then the normal wage. So I hope that helped, I'm not going into huge detail about the jobs, I'll let you use your imaginations because it's not really important to the story line.

**Chapter 11**- Halloween Bash prt 2

"This should be," Amanda gulped. "Fun." I took a deep breath.

"Yeah..." I agreed. The two of us linked arms and pulled the curtain aside. The hall was completely covered in black paper. Strobe lights made the hall creepy by giving you a loss of depth perception. Spider webs hung off of everything. Black sheets of about four feet wide hung from the ceiling to the ground making a maze. Skeletons were hanging from nooses.

"Let's go to Dracula's cave!" Amanda exclaimed.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Look, Dracula's cave." She pointed to a sign that had an arrow pointing inside a classroom, right before going through the maze of sheets. We walked up to the classroom. There were screeching bats hanging from the ceiling. A big casket was placed upright in the middle of the room. It started to shake violently. Suddenly the door opened but no one was there. We screamed, still scared.

"Uh..." I said nervously.

"Hello?" Amanda called. Out from behind the box, a vampire ran out at us with his fangs fully shown. We screamed and ran out. The two of us ran and hid behind the black sheets.

"You think he's following us?"

"I hope not," I said breathing heavily. "I can't see much... it's too dark."

"Just stick together and we can get through this," Amanda said. There was groaning from some of the sheets ahead.

"I hate you for dragging me in here. Let's go back." I pulled Amanda the way we came, but as we were running out, Dracula was waiting. He held up his cape and hissed at us. We screamed and ran back through the opening of the sheets.

"We just have to keep going Kai," Amanda said. I nodded and we headed towards the moaning. We tightened our grip as we turned along the sheets. A mummy met up with us. It tried to grab us but we were too fast for it. Finally we got passed the maze. "The exit should be near. This hallways isn't that big."

"Yeah, thankfully," I agreed.

"Man, you get scared easily."

"Yeah, I know I do."

"Let's go in the mirror room," Amanda pulled me into a classroom with tons of mirrors. We released from our grip and started to look at some of the mirrors. I found a really cool, old fashioned one. I was examining it when the red light bulb went out.

"Amanda?" I called out.

"Yeah?" I heard her say.

"Why'd you turn off the lights?" I asked.

"I didn't though." The light turned back on. I looked back at the mirror. Instead of my reflection, a skeleton popped out at me. I screamed jumping back. Amanda and I ran out of the room.

"Why'd I agree to coming in here with you?" I asked breathing heavily.

"Because you're a good friend," Amanda grinned.

"Kairi... Amanda..." The deep voice called out.

"Oh, not again," I sighed. Evil laughter was heard all around us. The hall went completely black. Everything was quiet. Suddenly the strobe lights came on again. "Amanda?"

I looked around. She was gone. It was like she disappeared into thin air. I felt slightly panicky.

"Amanda!" I yelled. I started to run down the hallway. I ran through a curtain and past that was an area filled with dry ice. It was swirling all around the little area. I turned around to get a better look when I bumped into something. I let out a small yell and spun around. "Amanda!" I hugged her.

"Where were you!" she cried out hugging me back.

"I was in the same spot as I was when the lights went out," I said.

"I told you to follow me but obviously you didn't hear me," she said.

"Well, let's go." We walked to the end of the dry iced area through another curtain. It was made up like a grave yard. We walked past the tombstones through the last room. Once we got passed the curtain, we saw the exit.

"Kairi... Amanda... your end is near." We heard the crackling laughter once more. Out of no where zombies started to come from all directions. They kept trying to grab us. Amanda and I kept screaming and we finally ran out into the cool night air.

"We made it!" Amanda cheered giving me a high five. I returned it with a big grin. Suddenly something came behind us and grabbed us. We both let out blood curdling screams.

"Ow! Think you could scream any louder?" I turned around to see Sora and Riku covering their ears.

"Oh my gosh! You scared us!" I yelled.

"We didn't mean to," Sora said.

"Where were you guys?" Riku asked.

"We just came from the haunted house," Amanda pointed to the hall behind us. When we all looked behind us, the doors flung open and everyone was running out.

"Oh my gosh! Don't go in there! It's so scary!" Alexa yelled running over to me. They were all out of breath.

"I didn't think people could get that creative," Yuna said holding Tidus's hand without realizing it. Tidus looked down at their linked hands, Yuna did too. They both quickly released each other and blushed madly.

"Uh, so now we've all been in there except Sora and Riku," I said breaking everyone attention away from Yuna and Tidus.

"You two should check it out!" Wakka said.

"But Alexa just said don't go in there," Riku pointed out.

"Well, don't mind Alexa, you two should go in," Josh said.

"We'll go in a minute. Let's get drinks," Sora said. Everyone started to head back, until I pulled Amanda back.

"What are you doing?" she asked watching everyone walk away.

"Let's go back to the haunted house," I said pulling her in a different entryway.

"Are you crazy! I thought you didn't want to go back?"

"I don't." I pulled her into a run. When we got into the gym, I went to where Amber and Christy were.

"Hey! How'd you like the haunted house?" Christy asked.

"It was scary!" Amanda yelled. They laughed. Christy handed me my rose.

"Uh, I have a question," I stated. "Who was it calling our names?" Amber and Christy looked at each other.

"Should we tell them?" Amber asked Christy.

"Why not," Christy shrugged.

"It was Sora and Riku," Amber said.

"What!" Amanda and me yelled.

"Why I outta." Amanda turned around to find the guys.

"No, wait." I pulled her back.

"But Kai!" she whined. "We have to get them back."

"We will," I reassured her. "Hey, can we go through again?"

"You really want to?" Christy asked.

"It won't be scary," Amber said.

"I have an idea. Don't tell anyone we're in here," I smiled pulling Amanda in with me. After the doors closed, Amanda looked at me.

"Why are we here again?"

"Here's the plan, you stay here, go sit in that corner there." I pointed to a dark corner.

"Stay down and stay quiet 'till they pass. Make sure they don't see you. After they leave follow them but stay out of site."

"Okay..." she said hesitantly. "Then where will you be?"

"I'm going to be in the ending, the grave yard, hiding in a dark corner as well. I'll be calling their names. Once they get in there, we'll tackle them," I explained.

"Oh, good plan."

"Okay, go hide. I'm going. See you in a bit." I ran through the curtain. '_Ignore the monsters, ignore the monsters_.' I chanted in my head as I ran. I didn't want to be scared so I kept my head low and chanted under my breath but stayed aware. I slipped past everything that scared me before. Once I got to the back grave yard ending, I saw the zombies. They started at me. There were about 15 of them. I held up my hand.

"Wait. Okay in a bit two guys, well, Sora and Riku, will be coming," I said calmly, at least the best I could. They looked at me dumbfounded. "Look, um, well when they get here, surround them, so they can't escape. When I call their names, you can separate." I was expecting to hear grunts or something.

"Yeah, okay," I heard a girls voice said. I laughed.

"Thanks," I smiled, hiding in a corner. I stayed quiet and listened to the low eerie music as I waited for my friends to get closer. I heard two distant yells. I stifled my laughter. Finally they were getting tortured. I heard monsters grunting and growling.

They were slowly getting closer, I could tell. The yells were getting louder. I lightly cupped my hands over my mouth and started to call their names.

"Sora... Riku..." I yelled their names muffled by my hands.

"Dude, Riku. Did you hear that?" I heard Sora's voice a ways off.

"Sora, quiet! It's just someone playing a trick on us," Riku said. They were towards the end of the maze it sounded like. I heard the mummy and Sora and Riku's yells. I laughed quietly to myself.

"Sora... Riku... you're end is near..." I called.

"I don't like the sound of that," Riku said quietly.

"What happened to oh, 'It's just someone playing a rick on us.'?" Sora mocked. Even though I couldn't see it, I was sure Riku was glaring at Sora. Finally after a short while, the two came to the ending. Sora bent down and put his hands on his knees while Riku stood there with his arms crossed.

"Finally. We made it to the end," Riku said.

"So, why are we just standing here? Let's go," Sora said taking a step forward. I looked to see the zombies walking towards them. Those two tried to avoid them but it failed. Soon the zombies were surrounding them completely. I saw Amanda peek around the corner. I stood up and motioned her to get closer to them. I stood next to her. We were directly behind the boys, only the zombies separated us.

"Sora..." I called his name normally.

"Riku..." Amanda did the same. The zombies separated and Riku and Sora stood to their backs against us.

"Er... who said that?" Sora asked. I ran up and jumped on his back. He yelled. I laughed and kissed his cheek before I turned around to see Amanda hugging Riku. I turned to Sora who had his hand to his chest, breathing heavily.

"So we found out it was you playing a trick on us!" Amanda said.

"It was his idea!" Sora pointed to Riku.

"How'd you do it anyways?" I asked.

"Well, we knew you guys were going to come here, so we asked Christy and Amber if we could scare you guys. We used microphones and once we saw you go in, we stood just outside the door. Our voices came from the hidden speakers in here," Riku explained. Amanda and I stood there before we both hit Riku at the same time. "Ow! Hey!" I turned to Sora and hit his arm too.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked rubbing his arm.

"For going along with it," I said. It was silent among the four of us until we started laughing.

"You have to admit, that was a good trick," Riku said.

"Yeah, but it was rude," Amanda said.

"Well, you got us back, so now it's fair," Sora smiled sheepishly.

"Heh, let's go," I said taking Sora's hand. The four of us walked out of the haunted house.

"Kairi!" I heard my name being called. I turned to find the source. Alexa was running over to us. "Kairi! I have to ask you a question."

"Okay. Go ahead," I said to her.

"Well, can I sing a song tonight? It's really important," she said.

"I can go ask if we can sing one more song," Sora said.

"What song do you want to sing?" I asked her.

"Do you guys know 'I Wont Say I'm In Love'?"" Alexa questioned.

"Yeah."

"Well, I want to really sing it. I know it's late notice but please, Kai, please!" Alexa begged. I laughed.

"Yeah, okay," I smiled.

"Thank you!" She hugged me. The five of us headed back inside. Sora looked down at the rose in my hand.

"Um, where'd you get that?" he asked.

"Oh, some guy wanted to dance with me and after the dance, he gave it to me," I told him.

"Oh." I looked up at him. Small hints of jealously traced his startling ocean colored eyes. I took his hand in mine, causing him to look down at me. I smiled causing him to do the same. I laid my head against his shoulder as we entered the loud music filled gym.

"We'll go find the others for the performance," Riku said pulling Amanda along.

"I'll go find the principal," Sora said leaving Alexa and I alone.

"So the song's for Blake huh?" I smiled at her as we walked to the stage entrance.

"How'd you know?" she asked curiously.

"Ah, just a hunch I guess." I winked at her. She smiled at me. After a short while, the band met up and we were introduced for the second time tonight. We set up everything and I handed Alexa a microphone. She faced the school in front of her as she held up the mic.

"This song is to someone here, who had his eyes on me from the beginning and the same with me," She said clearly. We started the music and luckily for us, we knew this song.

_No chance,no wayI won't say it, no nooo _

_If there's a prize for unjudgement,I guess I've already won thatNo man is worth the aggravationThat's ancient history,Been thereDone that_

_Who'd'ya think you're kidding?He's the earth and heaven to yaTry to keep it hidden,Honey we can see right through yaGirl ya can't conceal itWe know how you're feelin, and who you're thinking of_

_No chance, no way, I won't say it, no noYou swoon, you sighWhy deny it, uh ohIt's too, clichéI won't say I'm in love(shoo doop, shoo doop, oooooooooh)I thought my heart had learned its lessonIt feels so good when ya start out(when you start it out)My head is screaming, "Get a grip, girl!""Unless you're dying to cry your heart out!" Ooooh oooh_

_You keep on denyingWho you are and how you're feelin'Baby, we're not buying, hon we saw ya Hit the ceilin'Face it like a grown upWhen ya gonna own up that ya got, got, got it bad?_

_WoahNo chance, no way, I won't say it, no noGive up, give inCheck the grin, you're in love!(you're in love 3x)Your doing flips, read our lips your in love_

_You're way off base(you're in love 3x)I won't say it!Get off my caseI won't say I'm in love (no, no, no, no)I won't say it(no,no)I won't say it(noooooooooo)_

_No chance, no way, I won't say it, no noGive up, give inCheck the grin, you're in love!(you're in love)The scene wont play(you're in love,oh you're in love)I won't say I'm in loveYour doing flips, read our lips your in love_

_You're way off baseI won't say itGirl, don't be proud, it's ok, you're in love_

_No chance, no way, I won't say it, no noGive up, give inCheck the grin, you're in love!The scene wont playI wont say I'm in love(You're in love)_

_OooooohAt least out loudI won't say I'm in...love_

_Sha la la la la la 3x,(sigh)_

After the song, everyone cheered Alexa on. She smiled and gave a small bow. All of us got off the stage. Blake met up with us.

"Uh, Alexa," Blake said.

"Yeah?" She replied with a big grin.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked. With out a reply, Alexa wrapped her arm with his and the two walked to the dance floor. People followed their lead and started to dance.

"Miracles really do happen," I heard Sora say who was standing next to me. I looked up at him with a smile.

"They really do." I took his hand and brought him to the dance floor.

The weekend went by smoothly. The dance was a blast. We also got informed that it was Alexa's last week with us. My parents said that Sora and I were going to help my uncle and aunt move in. Blake insisted on helping us and Cloud got dragged along.

It was Monday and I was heading to my locker to put my binder away. Sarah and Cindy were walking just behind me talking. Since they were so close, I listened in on what they were talking about. Figures it was about Shawn.

"Who did Shawn go to the dance with?" Cindy asked who obviously didn't go.

"He just went with his two buddies. They all dressed alike. Quite cute I might add," Sarah said.

"What did they go as?"

"They dressed up in tux's, eye masks, hats, white gloves and capes." The image of Zorro popped up in my head. I shut my eyes tight as anger ran through me.

"Oh!" Cindy said excitedly. Sarah sighed dreamily.

"He told me to call him 'Zorro'," she said.

"Aw, how mysterious," Cindy swooned. My eyes jolted open as I stopped dread in my tracks. I gripped my binder tighter as the two Shawn-obsessed girls ran into me. I slowly turned to face them.

"Wha... what did you just say?" I asked quietly.

"When?" Sarah asked.

"About Shawn." I shut my eyes and tired to remain as calm as possible. "What did he have you call him?"

"Zorro... why?" Sarah responded. I slowly opened my eyes. I took in a deep breath. I turned around and went to my locker. After I got my stuff done, I went to my next class. On my way there, I saw Shawn heading to Science.

"Shawn!" I yelled out to him. He turned to me.

"What's up?" he asked like a friend would. I walked up to him.

"Shawn, or should I say _'Zorro'_?" I put my hands up to emphasize 'Zorro'.

"Oh... uh..." He put his hand behind his neck and looked off to the side.

"I can't believe you," I said to him. He looked at me. I slapped him across the face.

"What was that for?" he yelled in pain holding his cheek.

"For lying to me! I can't believe you tricked me!"

"Well, I knew you wouldn't dance with me if you knew it was me," he said defensively.

"Well, if you weren't so... so... ugh! You know what, I don't want to be late to class." With that said, I walked past him to Science. I barely made it on time. I sat down at my desk fuming mad.

"What's wrong Kai?" Namine asked looking at me.

"I'll tell you later," I said. Shawn walked into class. He was looking down avoiding all eye contact with anyone. Someone pointed out something.

"Hey Shawn…" he said slowly. Shawn looked up.

"What?" he responded.

"Dude, why is your cheek red?" the kid asked. I examined him. He had a huge red hand print, my hand print, across his left cheek.

"I don't want to talk about it," Shawn said taking a seat and avoiding eye contact with the rest of us again. I couldn't help but smile triumphantly.

**A/N**: yay, I finished and you finished reading the chapter! Ha, Shawn so deserved that! Wow, this chapter is shorter then the others.. Hum, well next chapter is going to be good, I guarantee it! So now let's hear those reviews!

Oh by the way, you guys should visit Cloudsgirl133's site and read 'Hopeless Romantics' cause I'm working on that story too! Every other chapter is me writing, so if you want to read another fanfic from me (lol) go and find the story!


	12. Moving Out and Moving In

**Authors Note**: Hey, check that out, I updated all three stories now! So now it's time for Alexa to move into her new house and new love to blossom... along with a small surprise at the end.

Well, enough talking, now you can read it!

**Chapter 12-** Moving Out and Moving In

"I wonder what happened to Shawn's face," Selphie said after class.

"Looks like he got slapped," Riku pointed out. I was trying not to grin but it was so hard. They seemed to notice too.

"Why are you so cheery?" Cloud asked.

"That grin is awfully big," Sora said. I looked up and started to laugh.

"Er..." Amanda said confused.

"Uh, Kai, are you okay?" Namine asked. They looked at me worriedly. I started to calm down some.

"Are you calm enough to tell us?" Sora asked. I nodded. I held up my right hand.

"What are you doing?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"I slapped Shawn," I confessed.

"Not that he doesn't deserve it, but what did he do this time?" Amanda asked.

"He's Zorro," I informed them.

"_He's_ Zorro?" Nam asked wide-eyes. I nodded.

"How'd you find out?" Sora said.

"Sarah and Cindy were talking about it," I told them.

"Way to go Kai!" Riku said giving me a high five. I smiled returning it. We went through the rest of the weekdays with ease. Saturday came along. The day we would start helping my family move in a couple streets up.

Blake, Cloud, and Sora helped Alexa pack and load her stuff into Sora's truck while I went with my parents to help my uncle and aunt. We drove to their new house... more like mansion in my eyes. The place was in one of the better neighborhoods, one of the best in Destiny City. My parents said it had six rooms, five bathrooms, three car garage, family room and living room with a swimming pool and hot tub in the back yard. Sadly, this house was smaller then their pervious one. Since Alexa's mom came from a rich family, they could afford this living.

"Hey Kiddo, long time no see," Uncle John said as I walked in. My 37 year old uncle greeted me. Him and my mom looked a lot alike. Both have red-brown hair and green-blue eyes. It really came to me that I have my moms hair and dads unique blue eyes.

"Hey uncle Johnny," I smiled up at him. My aunt Juli came up behind him. She didn't look at all in her 30's. Her green eyes, the one Alexa got were very young and alive looking. Juli was tall and slender with beautiful long brown hair. She smiled at me.

"Good to see you again Kairi dear," Juli said.

"Same here," I replied.

"The moving trucks won't be here for a while so if you want to take a look around, go ahead," John said.

"Alexa's on her way, they just called," Juli informed me. I nodded and headed inside. Everything was pure white, except for the floors, they were hardwood. I wanted to see what Alexa's room looked like but I wasn't sure which of the five rooms belonged to her. I examined the downstairs while I waited for everyone to get here. They had a huge kitchen and dining room. I could only imagine what Juli was going to do to this place. It was kind of funny that three people would live in a house this big, but I guess if you have the money, you have a right to show it off.

"Kairi!" Alexa's voice rang through the empty downstairs. I ran to the entry way where everyone stood.

"Hey," I greeted them. I decided to introduce my friends, well three of my many friends to my uncle and aunt. "John, Juli, this is Cloud and his brother Blake. They live next door. This is my boyfriend Sora, who's been staying with us for a little over a couple months now."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Juli said.

"Like wise," Sora said.

"Hey Alexa, go pick a room out," John said to his daughter.

"Okay! Come on guys." Alexa started to run to the stairs. The four of us followed her. The upstairs was ridiculously huge. (**A/N**: If you guys have seen Freaky Friday, the way the upstairs hallway and rooms are set up like that... only imagine this tons bigger) Alexa led us to a room that faced the front of the house and had a balcony. This room was probably as big as Sora's room, my room, and the extra bed room combined.

"This is going to be _your _room?" Blake asked looking around.

"Yep!" Alexa chirped.

"We've got company!" I heard my mom call from outside. We all went to the balcony. Namine, Amanda, Riku, Tidus, and Yuna were talking to my parents.

"Up here!" I called. Everyone looked up and waved.

"Come on Cloud, let's go get Alexa's stuff," Sora said. Cloud nodded and the two left.

"Let's go meet the others," Alexa said heading inside her room followed by Blake. I stayed where I was. "Come on Kai."

"I'll be down in a bit," I told them. They both shrugged and left. I was looking out at the fantastic view. The ocean was in perfect view just above the swaying palm trees. The small roof tops were seen in the neighborhoods below the hill of the nice houses. I saw a few large moving trucks coming down the street, so I decided to go downstairs and help move.

After a couple of hours, we got a lot of the upstairs stuff done. We decided to take a break. Mine and Alexa's moms were bringing back sandwiches from my house. Our dads were going grocery shopping for the food they'll need for a week. Everyone went through out the house to explore. I was heading upstairs to help Alexa with her room until I heard her out on her balcony talking to Blake who was in the front yard.

"Alexa!" Blake called up to her. I peeked in the doorway. Alexa looked down below.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"I want to tell you something."

"Okay... go on."

"Well ever since I first saw you with Kairi, I couldn't keep my mind off of you. I've gotten to know you and Alexa..."

"Y-yeah Blake..." She sounded kind of surprised to hear this. I smiled because this seemed like a remake version of Romeo and Juliet.

"Alexa, I think I love you!" Blake said with as much confidence he could build up.

"Blake! I feel the same!" she called down to him.

"Are you serious!" I let out a small laugh at the shocking tone of his voice. Alexa nodded. "So... so does this mean something?"

"I hope so!" Alexa said.

"Yes!" Blake yelled excitedly. I smiled. My cousin got a boyfriend. I had to tell Cloud. I started running down the stairs. As I got to the bottom, I saw Blake running down the stairs. As I got to the bottom, I saw Blake running inside. I watched him run up the stairs as I kept running. What a dumb mistake not watching where I was going. I bumped hard into someone and fell to the floor with a thud, along with who ever I ran into.

"Ow!" I said. I looked up to see Amanda in pain too, but we both let out small laughs.

"Kairi! Guess what!" she exclaimed as we helped each other up.

"What?" I asked.

"Tidus asked out Yuna!" Amanda smiled.

"When did this happen!" I was somewhat shocked but very happy for the two.

"Just now! Out in the backyard," she told me.

"Ha, now everyone's paired up," I grinned.

"What do you mean by everyone?" Riku asked who was walking in from the living room with Cloud, Namine, and Sora behind.

"Well Tidus and Yuna. Also at the same time, Blake and Alexa got together," I said happily.

"It's about time Blake said something to Alexa. He was driving me nuts at home talking about her," Cloud said. Namine gave a small laugh.

"I thought it was cute," she said. I smiled at her. My parents, uncle, and aunt walked in.

"Kids! Lunch time!" my mom called as they walked into the kitchen. Like a bunch of animals, at the mention of food, we all charged into the kitchen to eat. During lunch, the new couples were introduced. My uncle and aunt seemed to think Blake was a very good young man. That was good that they approved.

After lunch, we went back to moving things into the house. We all got assigned rooms. Sora and I did one extra bedroom upstairs, as well as Cloud and Namine, Tidus and Yuna and Blake and Alexa. Riku and Amanda were doing the bedroom downstairs. The men brought in the heavy furniture while the women worked on the master bedroom.

"I need a job," Sora said as we were organizing one of the bedrooms.

"That was random and why do you say that? I mean you do have money. Your parents send you some every month," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but it's not exactly enough," Sora said looking at me.

"Huh?" I asked confused. Sora shook his head and laughed a little. He walked up to me.

"Let's just say it's time to grow up," he said. "Whether or not you like it, it's our last year in school before college. The real world is getting closer. Graduation is in about seven months."

"Yeah I know." I looked away and out the window. He knew very well I wasn't ready to start a life different from what I was used to from the time I was little to this school year. Truthfully, I was scared of the future and what it held. It's possible I won't see anyone after graduation. We all have our own destiny, I was just afraid of what my destiny has in store for me. I sighed.

"Hey," Sora caught my attention. I looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"You know I'll always be here for you. I really love you and I know nothing will change that." He hugged me. He placed his chin on top of my head. I closed my eyes and took in a breath.

"I know," I replied. "I love you Sora." He let go of me and looked down at me.

"You can count on me. I'll always be here," Sora said in a reassuring tone. I nodded slowly. Something came into my head.

"I have to go talk to Juli. I just thought of something," I said.

"Alright," Sora nodded. I walked out of the room and down the hallway. My mom and Juli were laughing as they were fixing up the master bedroom. I knocked on the side of the open door. I got their attention.

"Oh, Kairi come in," my mom said smiling. I walked in.

"Hey Juli, I have a question," I stated.

"Go on," Juli said.

"Well, I know New Years isn't for another two months, but um, do you think we could throw a party here?" I asked.

"We were just talking about how this house would be a good place for parties," my mom said. I smiled.

"Yeah," Juli agreed. "We're going to have Thanksgiving here, and actually we were planning on having a new years party. You man invite some people, but I don't want it to rowdy."

"Oh, don't worry," I said.

"Go ahead then," she smiled. I hugged her.

"Thanks," I said before leaving. I was walking to the room I was supposed to work on. John and my dad were walking into the master bedroom with a huge dresser. Sora came out of the extra room as they walked in.

"Where are your parents?" Sora asked. He had his cell phone in his hand.

"In the room," I pointed. He nodded and went into the master bedroom. I shrugged it off as I headed to tell my friends about the New Years plans. I walked to the railing and saw inside the room Tidus and Yuna were in. They were talking. I walked around to the other side of the hall. Their conversation was clearer.

"You need to laugh more Tidus," Yuna said.

"What do you mean? Like this? Ha, ha, ha!" Tidus said. I laughed because he sounded like Santa Clause. Yuna was laughing too. (**A/N**: When I was playing FFX and I saw that, I had to add something similar to it in here some how lol)

"No, you know, just a regular laugh. I've heard it before. I love your laugh," Yuna said. It was quiet for a second. Suddenly Tidus started cracking up, along with Yuna. I walked into the room. They were both collapsed on the bed laughing insanely.

"You two are so weird," I laughed. They both looked up and started to calm down enough to talk.

"Hey Kairi," Yuna giggled.

"What's up Kai?" Tidus smiled.

"Just came to tell you a new years party is being held here. You two are invited," I said.

"That sounds fun!" Yuna said. I nodded.

"I have to go tell the others," I said walking out of the room. As soon as I did, I heard them laughing again. I shook my head and laughed. After I told the other four, Alexa ran down the stairs towards me.

"Kai!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah?"

"Mom says since my furniture won't arrive for a while, I can paint my room! Can you drive me to get paint?" she asked.

"Yeah sure. Um, let me go ask Sora if I can take his truck," I said.

"Got the keys." Alexa dangled Sora's keys in her hand. I took them. "I already asked."

"Wow," I laughed. "Got money?"

"Yep! Let's go!" Alexa pulled me out the door to Sora's red truck. We both got in and I drove us to the store. Once we got there, we headed to the paints. I was looking at the blues.

"There are some cool ones over here," I said.

"I already found the color I want." She held up a dark pink color.

"You really like pink don't you?" I smiled. She nodded. We got enough cans to paint the room. The two of us stopped by my house to get paint brushes and plastic covering to cover the floor. Luckily we kept all this from when we painted what's now Sora's room. I decided to bring Princess with us. We arrived at Alexa's house. I held onto her leash so she wouldn't run.

"Alexa! I have a present for you!" Juli called from upstairs. We headed up the stairs and into the master bedroom where everyone was standing around the bed.

"Yeah?" Alexa asked. Everyone moved away from the bed. Sitting there was a puppy.

"A three month old black lab," John smiled.

"Oh my gosh! I love the puppy," Alexa shrieked excitedly picking it up.

"What are you going to name her?" Amanda asked. Alexa held her up.

"Fluffy!" She smiled.

"Oh, by the way, here." Juli gave Alexa a bright pink collar. Alexa put the collar on Fluffy before putting her down. Princess looked at the small pup. Fluffy barked and tried to jump on Princess. We all laughed.

"Thank you so much mom and dad! I love you!" Alexa hugged her parents. They both kissed their daughter.

"Why don't I take Fluffy and Princess outside while all you," Juli pointed to all of us. "Paint Alexa's room."

"Alright." We nodded and we headed downstairs to Sora's truck to gather all of the painting supplies. Once we had everything, we started to paint. The ten of us took a couple hours to finish up painting the room. All of us stood in the middle of the dark pink room.

"We defiantly didn't do bad at all," I said.

"This was actually pretty fun," Namine smiled. We all gave each other ups. My mom came into the room.

"Wow, you guys did really good," my mom complimented us.

"Thanks," we replied. My mom smiled at us before looking at Sora.

"The answer is sure," she said. I was really confused.

"Thank you," he nodded. My mom was just about to leave when she turned back into the room.

"Oh by the way, dinner will be ready soon," she said before leaving. We cleaned up the room before getting called downstairs for dinner. They ordered pizza.

"Alexa, you're going to be staying with your aunt and uncle one more night while your room dries," Uncle John said.

"You'll be staying in Kairi's room tonight," My dad said. Alexa nodded. I was confused on why but I didn't bother saying anything. Instead I ate my slices of pizza in silence. After everyone, we all headed home. Alexa took her new puppy with us, so she could get used to being with Alexa. Once we got home, my parents made up the air mattress. Sora decided to stay home while Alexa and I went to walk our dogs.

"Glad to have a new home?" I asked.

"Yes and no. Yes because I love our new home. No because I wont be staying with you guys anymore,." Alexa said.

"Well you'll see us at school and you could stay over anytime," I smiled. She smiled in return. We were walking by the beach area. Some venders were out on the sandy sidewalks. Two very recognizable voices were talking near by. I looked up to see two of my group of best friends standing by a flower vender.

"You look beautiful tonight," Josh said. His very dark colored hair was grown out slightly but it still looked good. He had a dark blue long sleeved button up shirt, dark blue faded baggy jeans and black skater shoes.

"Thanks. You look good tonight as well," Lissa said shyly. Her hands were placed in front of her. She was wearing a light blue fancy shirt, a long black skirt that goes to her shins and black flip flops. Her honey colored hair was pulled into a half pony tail. Josh turned to the vender.

"Can I get that rose." Josh pointed to a peach colored rose. The vender handed it to him and Josh paid for it before handing it to Lissa. She held it to her nose and took in the sweet scent.

"Thank you! It's so pretty," Lissa smiled.

"It reminded me of how you blush and you look so beautiful and delicate as that rose," he responded before kissing her lightly. They took each others hands before walking across the street to a restaurant.

"Aw, that's so cute," Alexa said.

"Yeah it was," I grinned. "Finally everyone in the group is paired with someone and is happy." Alexa laughed. We decided to walk back home. The sky was darkening and a few stars were starting to shine in the light orange, purple, and pink sky. As we were starting to walk to the house, Blake ran out of his.

"I'll leave you two alone." I brought both dogs inside. The two chased each other in the doorway, scaring Precious up the stairs. I got some strawberries out of the fridge before heading upstairs to my room. Precious was sitting on my desk top looking out my window. I decided to check up on Blake and Alexa. They were talking and Blake pulled Alexa closer to him before kissing her. I smiled before turning around. I got my pajamas and turned to walk out of my room.

"Hey," Sora said walking out of the spare bedroom. He walked up to me and kissed my forehead. I smiled.

"I'm going to take a shower," I told him before heading into the bathroom. I took a nice warm shower. After I went into my bedroom and sat on my bed watching TV. Alexa came in.

"Hey Kai," she smiled.

"Hey," I laughed a little. She sat down on the air mattress by my bed. "I saw you and Blake outside."

"Hee, hee," Alexa blushed a little. "He's so sweet."

"He's a great kid," I agreed. I started to brush my wet hair. There was a knock at the front door.

"Can you get that Kai?" my mom called from her room.

"I'll be right back," I told Alexa getting up. I headed down the stairs. Princess followed me to the door. I held her collar while I opened the door.

"Hi. I'm going to be staying here," he said. He had bags in his hands. I wasn't sure what do say or do for that matter.

**A/N**: hee hee. Cliffy! Who could this mystery guy be? I know! But for you to find out, I need those reviews... so let's hear them!


	13. Job Search Day

**A/N**: Sorry! It took me forever to update! So not like me! I have a good explanation though, finals were here, then we were having family issues which are finally clearing up. Now all is good and I can update! Just a reminder for everyone who's going to be in the last chapter, I'll put everyone's info at the end of this chapter! Anywho carry on to see who this 'mystery guy is!'

**Chapter 13-** Job Search Day

"Um..." I said unsurely. The boy standing before me was as tall as Sora, he had big bright blue eyes like Sora's, face like Sora's and his hair was the same, only different. It was spiky but in a different way. On the left side of his head, his hair swayed towards his face. The one trait that made him look different to Sora was his golden sun-burnt blond hair. (**A/N**: Ha, that's right wonderful ppl who love this new blond addition to the KH crew, he's here!).

"Roxas!" Sora's voice came from behind me.

"Hey Sora. Long time no see," the one known as Roxas said. Sora smiled and walked next to me.

"Kairi, I want you to meet my cousin. We were really close growing up together. Roxas, I want you to meet my girlfriend," Sora said introducing us.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled stepping back, so Sora's cousin could come inside.

"Same here," Roxas smiled back.

"So, this is why Alexa is staying in my room and what my mom said okay to huh?" I asked Sora.

"Yes," he answered. My parents and Alexa walked down stairs.

"I want you all to meet my cousin Roxas. Roxas, this is Kairi's mom and dad, and her cousin Alexa," Sora introduced everyone.

"Thank you for letting me live with you. I really appreciate it," Roxas said.

"If you're related to Sora, we're bound to like you," my dad said. Sora, Roxas, and me smiled.

"Welcome to your new home," my mom smiled.

"Thanks," he said. Sora helped Roxas with his bags to the extra bedroom which was now his room. Knowing he was going to live with us now, I decided to ask why. Alexa and I followed them to his room.

"Um, not to sound rude, but why are you staying with us?" I asked leaning against the wall.

"Well, I'm going to be attending Starlit University after the year is over, so my parents figured I should get used to the area. We thought Sora still lived here and when I called him, he said he lived with you. My parents talked to yours yesterday and now I'll be living here," Roxas explained.

"Oh! Cool," I smiled. "That was a fast move."

"Why such late notice?" Alexa asked him.

"Because I'm already registered at Destiny High. We completely forgot about living arrangements until they said I start school Monday," he said.

"Where'd you live before?" I questioned.

"Twilight Town. By Star City."

"I used to live in Star City!" I exclaimed.

"The Stars were our schools competition," Roxas said reminding me of my old school's mascot. I laughed.

"The Eagles were ours." Roxas laughed. "You know, I think I remember seeing you at games."

**Flashback**

_Cloud and I were watching the first football game of the season. Twilight Town High School vs. Star High School in our sophomore year. The game was intense during half time, Cloud and I went to socialize with others from school. _

"_Jenna!" I smiled at one of my best friends. _

"_Hey Kai." My friend with dark blonde hair and green eyes hugged me. Jenna reminded me much of my old best friend back home in Destiny City, Namine. It was nice to have the familiarity. _

"_You enjoying the game?" Kyle asked, our other friend in the group._

"_I am!" Josh grinned. Cloud and I laughed. _

"_Too bad Casey and Chris aren't here," Jenna said. We all agreed. Casey and Chris were working on projects for one of their classes._

_I looked back at the score board. _"_No matter how much I'm not into football, I really do hope Twilight Town doesn't win. All the people there suck," I said in my honest opinion._

_I heard a light cough. _"_That's not entirely true," a blond haired boy with unique looking blue eyes said. We all turned to look at him. _

"_Really?" I said._

"_If you ever got to know some of us, you'd know that," he said making a good point. I shouldn't be that judgmental until I knew people. _

"_Sorry about that," I said. _

"_Hey, don't worry about it." He grinned before heading off with his friends. I was kind of shocked by him. He looked oddly familiar to me. _

"_Earth to Kairi!" Kyle said waving his hand in front of my face. _

"_Oh does someone see some eye-candy?" Jenna said smirking. My attention switched back to my friends._

"_What! No!" I said shaking my head violently._

"_Come on, let's go back to the stands," Cloud said putting his hand on my back before walking ahead of me. Everyone but Josh and me left._

"_Are you sure you don't like him?" Josh asked quietly. I looked at him wondering why he suddenly got quiet._

"_I'm sure Josh," I said nodding._

"_He's still the one huh?" he said referring to the one back in Destiny City. _

"_Yes. I truly think he's the one," I said to him. Feeling slightly bad, I put my hand on his arm. "Let's go now." The two of us caught up to our friends and watched the rest of the game. _

**End Of Flashback **

"You know, now that I think about it, I think I remember seeing you a couple times too," Roxas said. I smiled.

"Well, I'm getting tired, we had a long day," I said yawning.

"Me too. Besides, we have to finish moving," Alexa said to me.

"I can't help, your parents know already. Roxas and me have to look for jobs and I have to show him around," Sora said.

"Alright," I nodded. "Well it was nice meeting you Roxas."

"Yeah," Alexa agreed.

"Same here," Roxas said.

"Night guys," I said leaving with Alexa. We went into my bedroom to get ready for bed. I turned off the light, closed the door slightly, and turned the radio on to a low rumble. I closed my eyes.

The next morning I beat everyone downstairs to breakfast. After everyone ate, my parents took Alexa to her house. I went back upstairs after the three left. My phone rang, so I sat on my bed as I answered.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Kai! It's me Jenna!" she called into the phone happily. I laughed.

"Hey Jen! What's up?" I asked.

"Just calling to chat. We hardly talk since you've moved," Jenna said.

"Yeah, yeah, true. So how've you been?" I said trying to start the conversation.

"Pretty good. Same with the others. How about you, Cloud, and Josh?"

"We're all doing good. Cloud's still with Namine. Josh is with a good friend of ours in the group, Melissa," I told her.

"That's great! He really needed a girl," Jen laughed along with me. She cleared her throat and suddenly sounded serious. "Okay, I need your advice Kairi."

"With what?"

"A guy..."

"Oh! So tell me about him..." I said curiously.

"His name is Jeremy. He's tall, has light brown hair, brown eyes. Super sweet," she sighed dreamily. "Well, he flirts with me. He's kind of protective over me; however, we're not dating."

"That's kind of odd cause he's treating you like you are."

"Yeah it is," she agreed. "I guess we'll talk about it if something comes up."

"Alright," I said. Sora walked into my room. He grinned at me. I stared at him suspiciously.

"Anyway, I'm way excited to see you! None of us can stop talking about it." Jenna sounded ecstatic. I grinned at the thought.

"It's not until the end of December," I laughed.

"Yeah I know, but still! " she said. Sora started to make funny faces at me. I was trying hard not to laugh. I was trying to shoo him away from so I could concentrate.

"Stop!" I laughed as Sora walked up and started to tickle me.

"Stop what?" Jen asked confused.

"S-sorry Jenna! St-op..." I said not being able to stop laughing.

"Uh... Kai... are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine. Hold on a sec," I told her through laughs.

"Hey, I got to go. My parents want me to go to the store with them. I'll talk to you later. Bye Kai!" Jen hung up quickly. I hung up my phone. It was odd of her to end the conversation so quickly but Sora just kept distracted me.

"Sor-a!" I laughed.

"Yeah Kai?" he laughed too. He was tickling my sides and kissing my neck and cheek. Princess was barking at us and running around my bed. Precious was on my desk staring at all of us. Sora was on top of me, holding me down. We were laughing.

"Um, do I _want _to know what you two are doing?" a voice said from the door. Sora stopped tickling me as we turned to see who it was. Roxas was standing there with a unsure look upon his face. Sora laughed hesitantly as he rolled off me and I sat up.

"I was just tickling her," Sora said.

"Uh, huh." Roxas smirked and tilted his head.

"Really that's it!" I said.

"My cousin and his girlfriend getting it on when the folks leave. Smooth you two," he laughed.

"Hey! Shut it!" Sora threw a pillow at him.

"I was just kidding, sheesh," Roxas responded tossing the pillow over to me. The guys laughed as I rolled my eyes. Sora hopped off my bed.

"We're going to go on a job search," Sora said.

"Alright. I'm going to walk Princess and stop by to see Elizabeth," I told him getting up.

"Tell her 'hi' for me." I nodded as the two headed out of my room and down the stairs. I got a jacket and my shoes before heading downstairs. When I got downstairs, I got Princess leash and called her to me. She ran down the stairs. I hooked her leash up to her collar before heading out the front door. Sora and Roxas already left.

It was a nice warm day in November. I couldn't believe it was almost winter. Of course it never snows here, that would be an odd sight. Even though it doesn't snow, it still gets pretty cold. After Thanksgiving, the ice rink opens up. I've always wanted to go but I never got the chance. Princess and I walked to see Elizabeth.

We walked inside and up to her room. It's been a while since Sora or I have visited so I knew she would be glad to see one of us. I knocked on the door.

"Come in," a voice called from inside the room. I hesitated a bit for some reason before entering.

"Hi," I said as I walked in. Elizabeth was sitting across from a man with dark brown hair and in a black dress suit. They both looked up at me.

"Kairi! It's so good to see you. I'd like you to meet my lawyer, Mr. Jones," Elizabeth introduced me to the man sitting across from her.

"Hello." I switched Princess' leash to my left hand as I shook Mr. Jones's hand.

"Nice to meet you," he replied returning the handshake. He looked at Elizabeth. "Will that be all today?"

"Yes. Thank you," she replied nodding.

"Nice to meet you Kairi. Good day ladies." Mr. Jones gathered his papers and headed out the door.

"What was that about?" I asked after the door shut completely.

"I was fixing up my will," she said.

"Oh." Princess went over so Mrs. Conley could pet her.

"I wish I could stay and talk, we haven't had a good conversation in a while but I have a doctors appointment," she said with a slight frown on her aging face.

"Oh, alright," I said helping her up. I helped her put on her coat. "Do you have plans for Thanksgiving? It's in about two weeks."

"Nothing but the food they give us here."

"Would you like to join me and my family?" I asked. A smile appeared on her face.

"I would love too. I adore your family," she replied. I smiled in response. There was a knock at the door before it opened. One of the nurses came in.

"Elizabeth, time for your check up," she said. Elizabeth, Princess, and I walked out. I said my goodbye and started to head in towards the busier part of town. Town Square came into view, so I decided to go by. 'The Wave' where Yuna worked was hiring according to the sign in the window. I looked inside. Yuna spotted me. She waved for me to come in.

"Is it okay that I have Princess with me?" I asked standing in the doorway.

"Yeah. My mom won't mind," she smiled. I walked inside and headed over to the counter.

"Your mom owns this place?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Cool! Hey, um, I see your hiring. How much is it to start off?" I was intending to look for a job but it would be nice to work with someone I knew.

"Minimum wage, $8.25," Yuna replied. "Why are you interested?"

"I'm willing to give it a shot," I said. She grinned as she reached under the counter and grabbed an application.

"You can either fill it out right now or wait until you get home," she explained.

"I've got time," I smiled.

"Great." Yuna handed me a pen. I took it gratefully and filled it out. After a while, I finished and her the filled out document.

"Thanks Yuna! I better get going," I said starting to head for the door.

"I'll call you!" she called out. I waved and headed home. Once I got there, I ate lunch, and called my parents who were still over at my uncle and aunts house. I told them about my stop at the nursing home and 'The Wave'. They though it was good of me to invite Elizabeth over and for me being responsible enough to look for a job without anyone telling me to. Once the phone conversation was over, I went upstairs to start my homework.

At around 3, Roxas and Sora arrived home. They both headed up the stairs and into my room. The two had huge grinned plastered across their faces.

"Guess what?" Sora said sitting on my bed. I closed my math book and set it aside.

"What?" I asked.

"Roxas and I now work at Best Buy," he grinned.

"$9.25 an hour!" Roxas cheered. I laughed.

"Aw! Congrats you guys!" I said hugging Sora and giving a high five to Roxas. "That was really fast employment."

"Well when we were talking to the manager, he interviewed us right then. He really thought we were fit for the job," Roxas explained.

"That's so awesome," I grinned. "So when do you start?"

"Tomorrow at four," Sora answered.

"That soon?" I asked. They both nodded. "This is going to be completely random and off topic but it's almost the end of the month and we haven't practiced for our performance."

"Yeah that was random," Roxas stated. "I don't even know what you two are talking about."

"Oh yeah," Sora said ignoring Roxas. "Well we have a little left of the day, we can try to get started," Sora said. "I'll go call the guys."

"I'll call the girls," I said getting my phone as Sora left to his room. Roxas was left standing completely oblivious.

"Uh, is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

"Come on and I'll explain!" Sora called from his room. Roxas nodded and left. I laughed as I called up my friends. After a few phone calls to them, I went to go downstairs to meet up with them. As I was getting ready to head down the stairs, I heard two guitars playing and two voices singing in Sora's room. I peeked through the door crack and saw Sora and Roxas playing and singing together. They sounded great.

_Sweet is the side_

_Of her room_

_W__indow open by candlelight_

_How would you know_

_Cold winter on the shore_

_Chills the dress she wore_

_It's on the floor_

_Still it feels so warm, today _

_That's why I'm wondering why_

_You had to tell me_

_What's going on in your head_

_What's wrong_

_Come around to another time_

_When you_

_Don't have to run_

_And when she said she wants_

_Somebody else_

_I hope you know_

_She doesn't mean you_

_And when she breaks down and_

_Makes a sound_

_You'll never hear her_

_The way that I do_

_Yeah, yeah, No..._

_And when she Says she wants someone to love_

_She doesn't mean you_

_When she says_

My friends all came up the stairs. They had curious face on to what I was doing just sitting there outside of Sora's room. I put my finger to my lips singling them to keep quiet and made them listen in.

_Swing into flight_

_Over hills_

_Over her hills, it's twilight_

_Yeah, I guess that's right now_

_While we're here_

_Tell me why it's so funny_

_That you're so funny when you're mad_

_Always so mad, so mad _

_And that's why I'm wondering why_

_You had to tell me_

_What's going on in your head_

_What's wrong_

_Come around to another time_

_When you_

_Don't have to run_

_And when she said she wants_

_Somebody else_

_I hope you know_

_She doesn't mean you_

_And when she breaks down and_

_Makes a sound_

_You'll never hear her_

_The way that I do_

_And when she says she wants someone to love_

_She doesn't mean you_

_Yeah yeah_

_I don't know where_

_I'm coming from and_

_I don't know where_

_I'm coming to and_

_I don't know what_

_It means to me and_

_You don't know what_

_It means to you_

_She doesn't mean you_

They stopped playing and complemented each other. Suddenly the door opened. The two looked shocked to see eight people staring back at them.

"You guys sound really good," Amanda said.

'Thanks," Sora smiled. "Roxas I want you to meet a few of my best friends."

"A few?" Roxas asked looking surprised to know there were more. Sora laughed.

"Yes a few. This is Cloud, Namine, Amanda, Riku, Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka," He said. "You guys this is my cousin Roxas."

"You two look a lot alike!" Selphie said.

"Yeah, we get that a lot," Roxas replied looking slightly annoyed. I guess if you hear it a lot, it does get old fast.

"Are you going to be staying here?" Namine asked.

"Yeah. I start school tomorrow."

"Cool!" Amanda smiled. Roxas smiled back.

"You know, you look really familiar," Cloud said. Tidus looked at Cloud.

"Duh! They're family," Tidus reminded him.

"I know that!" Cloud said back. "But I mean, I think I've seen him somewhere else before."

"I know, that's what I thought," I told Cloud. "Remember those games between Star City and Twilight Town High School? That's where we've seen him."

"Oh! Now it clicks," Cloud laughed. Wakka looked at his watch.

"We really need to get started guys," he said. We nodded. Roxas ended up joining our group since Selphie said next semester she wanted to be fully dedicated to school. Roxas played the guitar and Amanda was going to start playing the piano. After practice, Roxas, Sora and me ate dinner before getting ready for bed.

The next morning, when we got to school, we introduced our other friends to Sora's cousin. We found out that since a senior that was in group 'B' with us dropped out of school, Roxas was now in our group. During class, we warned him of Shawn, Sarah, and Cindy. Finally lunch came. We all sat together.

"Wow, you guys sure do have a lot of friend,." Roxas said looking around the table at all sixteen of us. Everyone decided to sit together today. And by all of us I meant Sora, me, Amanda, Riku, Namine, Cloud, Selphie, Irvine, Lissa, Josh, Tidus, Yuna, Lulu, Wakka, Alexa, and Blake.

"And you're the newest addition," I grinned.

"You should get a girlfriend. it's the new trend around our group," Selphie said nodding.

"I'm not into finding anyone at the moment. I'm flying solo for a while," he told us.

"Oh, Kairi!" Yuna called. "Good news, you're hired!"

"Are you serious?" I asked slightly shocked. Yuna nodded happily. I grinned. "Tell your mom thanks!"

"Okay! You start this weekend," she smiled. "I told her more about you and she loved what she heard." I couldn't believe Yuna got me a job. I grinned happily.

"You're working with Yuna?" Sora asked.

"I am now. We'll be set with money now," I smiled wide. Sora grinned kissing my forehead.

**A/N**: finally done with this chapter! Yay, we have Roxas in our group now! lol. I think the next chapter will be Thanksgiving heading over to Christmas break. You know, I really wanted to get this fanfic out of the way before Kingdom Hearts 2 came out... I don't think it'll happen. I wont end it if KH2 comes out before I'm done though! So no worries! Review time guys!

Here are the characters I have set to be in the last chapter. I'll go with your screen name, your name that you want to be known as, your age and who your friends with. If there is an underline and italics, send me that info in a review!

**Aikokanei** -(_name_)– Junior – (_which side_)

**Sakura** – Stephanie – Sophomore – the group

**Sorakairi forever **– Reno – Senior – the group

**ChibiVixen **– Donna – (_grade_) – the group

**Sexy Kairi **– Sakura Niwa –(_grade_) – everyone (group and enemies)

**Lili-Sama **– Lily – Junior – enemies

**Flower Girl **– Kierna – Sophomore – the group

**BigBoss5 **– Vincent V. – (_grade_) – the group (Cloud)

**Axel **– Axel – Junior – (_which side_)

**Sora's Girl aka JRL **– Jennifer –(_grade_) – the group (Namine and Sora)

**Soras GaurdianAngel** – Bri – Sophomore – the group

**Pointless People of Pluto** – Sara – (_grade_)– (_which side_)

**Alchemist- Zantazulan**– James – (_grade_)– the group (Riku)

**Golden Night with Dark stars**– Jess – Senior – the group


	14. Thanksgiving and The Promise Ring

**A/N**: Yay, another chapter for the wonderful world of Dear Diary 2! Okay, I got asked this a few times in reviews... no, Dear Diary 2 isn't on it's last chapter. I want to surpass 27 chapters (that's how many chapters I had for Dear Diary) so this story is around the half way mark. There is a lot that needs to happen in this story to get to the end and possibly make a sequel to (that is if I get requests, like I say in my profile, I have ideas already if I do make one). Okay enough jibber-jabber, onto the story!

**Axel**- The reason why their lives seem so perfect is because this is what I wish my life was like (yes there is some bad things that happen, but life isn't and never will be perfect). However, like I said above, I'm not even near the last chapter, I still have a lot to write. There lives wont seem so 'perfect' in a few more chapters.

**Flower Girl**- no, no offensiveness taken. I realized I made that mistake but I have it spelt correctly on the paper I have this info on (see: Kirena). Glad you didn't forget about this fanfic! I was beginning to think you did, lol.

**Chapter 14**- Thanksgiving and The Promise Ring

_Dear Diary,_

_It's been two weeks since Roxas came to Destiny High. Just like we assumed, he's quite popular. Especially with the ladies. Roxas is the good guy who's single while Shawn's the bad ass who's single. We now have our opposites so the single girls are liking one or the other. Three more weeks until Sora goes to visit his parents for a week. I wonder how this will work. Hopefully nothing bad happens. A few days after he leaves, Jenna, Casey, Kyle, and Chris are staying until a few days before Christmas. Sora will be able to meet them when he returns. It's going to be nice to have all my close friends together! Oh, I better go, my parents are calling me. It's Thanksgiving and we're going to Alexa's house. _

_Love Always, Kairi_

I put my diary away and I ran downstairs to meet up with Roxas, Sora, and my parents. The five of us got into the car and went to pick Elizabeth up. After, we headed over to my relatives huge home. Alexa's pup, Fluffy, greeted us at the door.

"Hello! Welcome!" my aunt Juli smiled happily as we all walked in.

"Kairi! Guess what!" Alexa said running over to us.

"What?"I asked as the adults went to help with dinner and Roxas, Sora, Alexa, and I headed up the stairs.

"Riku, his parents, Cloud, Blake, their parents, Amanda, her sister and her parents, Namine and her parents are all coming tonight to celebrate Thanksgiving with us!" she grinned excitedly.

"How come no one told us!" Sora asked.

"No one tells teenagers anything," Roxas sounded convinced with his thoughts. Actually, I agreed. We all sat in Alexa's room as we waited for the others to come. Eventually, Riku, Amanda, Jennifer who is Amanda's older sister who's a senior as well, Cloud, Blake and Namine all showed with their parents. All the adults were downstairs helping out while we hung out in Alexa's room.

"Kids! Dinner is ready!" my mom's voice called. The ten of us headed downstairs to eat.

"Question!" Cloud raised his hand to get everyone's attention as we entered the kitchen. "How are 23 of us going to fit at one table?"

"Look in the dining room," Cloud's mom said pointing in the direction of the dining room. We all walked in to see two long tables that you'd see in movies set with hot golden turkey, fluffy stuffing, warm mashed potatoes, creamy gravy, cranberry sauce, green salad, big plump rolls, fruit salad, yams, and sparkling cider or apple cider on both of them. (**A/N**: This makes me want Thanksgiving dinner all over again! lol)

"Go on, sit," Amanda's dad smiled. All the teenagers sat at one table while the adults sat at the other. I sat at one side, next to me was Sora, Roxas, Alexa, and Blake. Across from me going down was Amanda, Riku, Jennifer, Namine, and Cloud. We started to eat after saying what we were thankful for.

"Hey Kai, check this out." Amanda was trying to balance her fork in her open palm, trying to keep the points in her hand steady so it'd stand straight up. It worked, but it didn't last long. The fork fell on her plate, landing in the gravy, splashing herself, Riku, and me. "Sorry!"

"Amanda!" I looked at my gravy-covered shirt.

"I'm so sorry!" She looked at Riku and me as we tried to clean our selves off. Everyone at the table was laughing. I glanced at my plate. I grinned evilly. I reached for the mashed potatoes. Amanda's eyes widened. "You wouldn't..."

"I would!" I laughed throwing the potatoes at her face. Riku must have had the same idea because he got her too. The adults were too busy talking to even notice what was going on. Everyone at our table was laughing even more except for Amanda. She reached for the fruit salad.

"Oh Kairi!" Amanda held it up in her hand tauntingly. I quickly got out of my seat and ducked behind Sora and Roxas. The fruit salad splattered both boys. Some still got on me though. Soon a food fight broke out at our table.

"Kids! What are you doing!" Namine's mom shrieked. Food from our table flew over to theirs.

"Kairi!" My mom was freaking out. I ended up getting her with mashed potatoes. I couldn't stop laughing. My dad threw food at us. We all became involved. Laughter along with odd splooshing noises from the food smacking against whatever it came in contact with was heard continuously. Eventually, we ran out of food we could throw. I looked over at my uncle and aunt.

"That was a blast!" Alexa grinned.

"I'm so sorry for this! I'll have Kairi and Sora clean up the room!" My mom was so worried. Aunt Juli started laughing.

"It's okay. This was fun. Don't worry about it. We'll all eat dessert, without a food fight involved." She looked at us as we smiled innocently. "Then, we'll all clean up." Juli smiled.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry for my daughter's actions," my dad said to the elderly woman. I ran over to her. She was covered with food.

"I'm so sorry!" I said. She laughed slugging me with mashed potatoes in my face. I slowly wiped it off.

"It's okay," Elizabeth laughed while hugging me. "I haven't had a food fight since I was about your age." We all smiled. All of us had pumpkin pie or ice cream before we worked together to clean up. After the clean up, we started to leave.

"Thank you for coming!" Uncle John called to all of us.

"Thank you for having me over. I haven't had this much fun in forever," Elizabeth hugged everyone.

"We'll see you all again on New Years!" Juli smiled as we left. We dropped Mrs. Conley off before heading home. I took the first shower, followed by Sora then Roxas. It was definitely the best Thanksgiving ever.

The last day of November, we preformed for the school. We sang 'Somewhere I belong' and 'Breaking the Habit' by Linkin Park, 'Pieces' by Sum 41, and Sora sang 'I Do' by Better Than Ezra. It was great with our new set up on our band.

It was the first actual week of December. We were in History. Mr. Clark was telling us about a project that we had to work on. We were getting partnered up. Selphie and Irvine were actually paired together. Lucky them. Namine and Riku were paired. Amanda, Cloud, Lissa, Josh, Roxas and Sora were with people in group 'V'.

"Kairi, you're paired with..." Mr. Clark looked around the room, then at his clipboard. "Shawn." My small smile faded as I turned to look at my new History partner. '_Every project!_' I yelled in my head. Shawn just looked at me without a specific look. After everyone was paired, we got to work. Shawn and I moved over to the back of the room.

"Okay, what's our assignment?" I asked him.

"We're supposed to do research on who founded these islands," Shawn answered me.

"You're not planning on kidnapping me or making a move on me this time?" I asked randomly.

"I won't try 'kidnaping' or 'making a move' on you," Shawn said with some sarcasm and annoyance in his voice.

"Good," I said slightly relived. A sophomore from group 'V' walked over to Shawn and me.

"Can I borrow your pencil real fast?" he asked with a congested sounding voice as he pointed to my pencil.

"Yeah, sure," I said handing him my pencil. Before he took it, he sneezed into his hand. The sophomore used my pencil then laid it back on the desk before thanking me and walking away. Shawn laughed as I stared at my pencil in disgust.

"That was great," Shawn laughed.

"That was sick." I took off my watch and ring before picking up the pencil and cleaning it off with a Kleenex and putting it in my bag. I got up and went to the front of the classroom and used the hand sanitizer on Mr. Clark's desk. As I was rubbing in the germ killing gel, I headed back over to Shawn.

"Better?" he asked casually leaning back in his chair.

"Yeah," I answered as I went to gather my jewelry I had recently taken off. I put my watch on and went to grab my promise ring. It wasn't next to where my watch was. I moved the papers, books, and binders around. I even looked on the floor around our table. My heart was racing uncontrollably as I began to panic. It was like losing a wedding ring.

"What are you doing?" Shawn asked eyeing me weird.

"I lost my ring!" I said in a hushed voice so no one would over hear.

"You mean this?" he held up the small ring just right, so that the light from outside made my ring glow. I sighed in relief.

"Oh thank heaven. Can I please have it back?" I asked politely holding out my hand. He looked at the ring from all angles. '_Oh no, please no!_' I thought frantically in my head.

"I think I'll keep it for a while." He tossed it in the air. My eyes followed it. It was like slow motion as it fell back into his hand. Shawn put it in his pocket. I quickly leaned across the table and got wide eyed at him.

"Shawn, what are you doing with my pro-" Shawn stopped me as he pointed next to our table. I looked up to see Sora standing by us. I slowly fell back into my seat, hiding my left hand from his view.

"What's Shawn doing with your what?" Sora asked curiously. My insides turned.

"I was asking Shawn what he's doing with my pro... project papers!" I quickly reached over and grabbed a few pages of research papers that were in front of Shawn. I laughed hesitantly.

"Uh, all right," Sora said. He kissed the top of my head. "I'll talk to you after class." He walked to the other side of the room. I looked at Shawn, slightly glaring. I leaned forward.

"I need that ring back!" I said to him. Shawn leaned in toward me.

"What would you do to get it back?" he asked slyly.

"Anything," I said throwing my hands in the air. I really didn't realize what I had just said. I quickly dropped my hands down.

"Anything?" he smirked. That had to have sounded wrong. I sighed. I needed my ring back. If Sora knew I lost it, he'd be upset, but if he knew Shawn had it, truthfully, I didn't know what he was going to do.

"Anything," I sighed again. Shawn leaned in more.

"Then you have to go on a fancy date with me. We'd spend the whole day together," he told me.

"No," I said. "I will not go on a date with you."

"It's just a date."

"Well I don't want a date."

"Then I'll tell Sora that you lost the ring he gave you," Shawn said. "You know he'll be crushed that you're so careless with something he thought you treasured."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Damn you," I said. I sat back down crossing my arms. "When are we going on the date?"

"Winter break," he replied.

"Winter break! That's two weeks away! Sora might notice my ring missing," I said. Shawn raised an eyebrow.

"That's not my problem." He picked up his binder, papers and other belongs and stood up. "Later Kai."

"Wha..." I was dumbfounded by him. The bell rang. Everyone started to get up and leave the class, including Shawn. I clenched my left hand.

"Come on Kai, next class," Cloud said. I sighed angrily and gathered my things before heading with the group to our next class. I was in a hurry to leave.

"Kai!" Lissa said chasing after me as I headed out the door.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Why aren't you wearing-" She started before everyone else started to catch up. '_Please don't say ring. Please don't ask why I'm not wearing my ring!_' I thought in my head. "Anyway, er, why aren't you wearing your necklace?"

"Huh?" I put my hand to where I normally wear my necklace. To my surprise, I forgot to wear it today. "Oh, I must have forgot."

"Oh," she laughed. I slightly did too. During our next two classes, I kind of avoided everyone. The likelihood of being caught was too great having most of my friends in my class. Finally at the end of fourth period, the bell rang for lunch. We all went to put our things away in our lockers. The guys decided to race to the lunchroom.

"Kai!" Namine said as I was getting ready to run with the guys. I stopped and turned to face her. Amanda, Lissa, and her were looking at me.

"Yes?"

"I didn't mean what I asked earlier," Lissa said.

"Huh?" I slightly tilted my head in confusion.

"What I meant to ask is why aren't you wearing your ring?" she asked. The three of them got closer to me. "I just didn't want to ask in front of the guys."

"We noticed you weren't wearing it," Amanda said.

"You always wear it. You even wore it after you and Sora broke up last year," Namine added. I bit my bottom lip and looked at each of them. I took a deep breath.

"You really want to know?" I asked. They nodded. We started to walk to the lunchroom as I told them what happened in History.

"Oh my gosh! What a jerk!" Namine said looking just as frustrated.

"You three can't say anything! Pinky promise and shake twice!" We all swore. "Especially to Sora."

"You should know we won't say anything," Lissa said.

"Have you guys noticed Shawn's getting worse each time Kairi really talks to him?" Amanda asked.

"Oh trust me, I've noticed," I said as we entered the cafeteria. The guys were already eating at the table.

"What took so long?" Roxas asked as we were walking by.

"We were just caught up," I said as we headed to the lunch line to get food. After, we sat at the table, enjoying out lunchtime as always. It seemed to take forever for school to end. I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked home with everyone. It was colder than normal and quite cloudy.

"I think it's going to rain," I said. Everyone agreed. Once Roxas, Sora, and I got home, the boys got ready for work. After they got ready, I said goodbye to them and they left. I did my homework before I started to write. I had grown a passion for writing and it was easy for me to clear my mind this way. (**A/N**: got to relate this to my reality -smiles-for those of you who've read about this story on my profile, you know this is becoming my reality in some ways.)

"Kairi!" my mom's voice called down stairs.

"Yeah?" I called back.

"Your friends are here!" She replied. I closed my notebook and headed downstairs to see Amanda, Lissa, and Namine.

"Hey guys," I said. My mom headed into the living room.

"Hey Kai," Nam said waving.

"Not to be rude, but what are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We want to help with the Shawn situation," Amanda told me.

"How exactly?"

"Let's go into the kitchen." The four of us headed into my kitchen and got snacks before sitting in the dining room.

"Okay, you know how you have to go on a date with Shawn?" Lissa stated. I nodded in response. "Well, we want to be on the date with you two."

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"We'll follow you two around but we'll make sure Shawn doesn't spot us. We'll be there to protect you if he makes a move on you," Namine explained.

"We'll be incognito!" Amanda grinned. I laughed a little.

"You're really willing to do that?" I asked.

"Of course," Lissa said.

"You're our best friend Kai," Namine said. We all stood up and hugged.

"I'm really thankful for you guys," I told them.

"Same here," Amanda agreed. There was a knock at the door. We pulled away and headed towards the entry way. I opened the door to see Cloud.

"Hey, is Namine here?" He asked.

"I'm right here," Namine said walking from behind me. The two smiled at each other. "I'll see you later Kai."

"We better go too," Lissa said. Cloud, Namine, Lissa, and Amanda all left. I stood on my porch and watched them leave. I leaned on the railing and watched the rain start to fall. The rain pitter-pattered against the porch awning. It was a calming sound. I closed my eyes and just listened.

"Eh, hem," a voice just off to the side from me said. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at my porch steps. My eyes narrowed.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Can I come in?" Shawn asked. I stood up straight and walked to my door. Cindy and Sarah started to walk up my sidewalk. My body tensed as they reached the porch next to Shawn.

"Hey Shawn," Sarah said in a flirty voice tossing her red hair over her shoulder.

"Kairi," Cindy glared at me. I rolled my eyes. I turned and walked in my house, closing the door behind me and in front of them. As I was heading over to let Princess in from the rain, there was a knock at the front door. I ignored it knowing who it was.

"Aren't you going to get that?" my mom asked as I pulled Princess in from the back door.

"Nope."

"That's not nice Kairi," she said opening the door. The three morons were still there.

"Can we talk to Kairi?" Shawn asked.

"Yes, come in." My mom stepped aside. I held Princess by her collar. "Why don't you four go up stairs?"

"Thank you ma'am," Shawn said as the three headed towards me. I sighed angrily and walked up the stairs taking the lead. The rest followed. As soon as we got upstairs, Princess went into Sora's room where Precious was asleep on his bed.

"What do you want?" I asked closing the door to my room once we all walked in. I didn't want my mom to yell at me for being rude to our 'guests'.

"Just making sure you're not going to back down," Shawn answered.

"How can I if you have my ring?" I glared.

"I just wanted to have witnesses," he shrugged.

"Shawn," Cindy whined. We all looked at her. "Why do you want Kairi? It's clear she doesn't want you."

"Yeah, listen to her," I pointed to Cindy. I never thought I'd agree to anything she said.

"Because I see something in Kairi that I don't see in anyone else. Her own unique personality just makes me realize no one can ever be like her. I just want her to see me for me and not just some creep I perceive myself to be." Shawn looked at me the whole time. I sighed. There was a knock on my door before it opened. I stepped to the side so I wouldn't be hit by my door. My mom entered.

"Dinner will be ready soon. Would you three like to eat over?" she asked Shawn, Cindy, and Sarah.

"But- but mom," I started to say before Shawn walked up to me and my mother.

"That's very generous. Thank you; however, I better get home and finish my homework," Shawn said. "Bye." He waved as he left my room and headed down the stairs.

"What about you two?"

"We better get going too. Thanks though," Sarah smiled before walking past us and heading down the stairs. My mother looked at me with her motherly smile before leaving and tending to her cooking. Cindy walked toward me.

"Don't mess with him, or you'll have to deal with me," she said, venom pinned in every word. I just watched her walk away.

I rolled my eyes. "People these days," I said under my breath. I headed down to meet my parents for dinner. After supper, we wrapped up the left-over's and put them in the fridge for Sora and Roxas. I went up to my room and fell asleep.

I woke up to two pairs of feet coming up the stairs. My eyes slowly opened and averted from the wall to my doorway. I sat up and stretched. Sora walked in with Roxas.

"Hey guys," I said sleepily. "How was work?"

"Great!" Roxas smiled while stretching. "I think I'm going to bed though. Night guys."

"Night," Sora said as I waved. Sora looked at me. He put his hand on my forehead before moving my hair to the side. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." I smiled faintly. He did too. Sora kissed my forehead.

"I'm really tired, so I'm going to bed. G'night Kai," Sora said. I waved as he left to his room. I looked at my alarm clock. It was only 9:30. I got out of my bed and closed my bedroom door. I opened my closet door and pulled out a jacket. Obviously my parents were still awake and I knew they wouldn't let me leave at this time of night on a school night.

I walked to my side window and opened it. I slowly climbed through and stood on the branch below my window. It was still raining some so I closed my window so there was only a crack. Cloud walked by his window causing my heart to jump. He thankfully didn't catch me. I continued my way down the tree and out of my side yard to my front yard.

I started to walk down the cold rainy sidewalk toward the beach. I just needed the fresh air to clear my mind. Shawn and his followers made me so stressed. I have to completely avoid Sora until after he returns from visiting his parents. I really didn't want to. I walked onto the wet dock. I stood at the very end and looked at the dark view ahead of me.

"Kairi?" a voice from the sidewalk across the dock and the beach had called. I turned around to see who it was before slipping on the wet, slippery dock.

"Ah!" I fell backwards into the cold winter water. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get a good breath of air before falling in. As I tried to swim up, I realized my shoelace was caught on a splintered piece of wood on the dock. I started to panic, losing more air by the second. There was a splash next to me, followed by another one. Due to all the bubbles of the splashes, I couldn't see who the two were. One of them grabbed me from around the waist while the other detached my shoelace from the dock.

The person who was holding me brought me to the surface. We coughed for air while the other person rose to the surface as well. The three of us swam to shore. Whoever was holding me helped me onto the sand.

"Kairi, are you all right?" a panicked voice asked next to me. I looked over at Sora. We both pulled into a tight hug.

"Thank you so much," I said almost in tears. He pulled away and put his hands on my cheeks, pulling me into a kiss. He was still wearing his now drenched work uniform.

"You scared me half to death. When you didn't pop up right after you fell in. You had me so worried," he said holding me tightly.

"How'd you know I left?" I asked still trying to catch my breath.

"I saw you walk past my house, so I called Sora and we followed you," Riku said. I stood up and hugged him. I went back over to Sora.

"Are you absolutely sure you're okay? I mean it's not like you to leave without warning. Is everything all right?" Sora asked me. I looked down. How could I explain it? I just didn't have the heart to even go down that road and tell him that I let that promise ring get in the hands of his worst enemy. I looked up and saw his magnificent blue eyes.

"Yeah. Everything's all right," I lied. He nodded still looking worried.

"Hey, why don't we go ice skating sometime this week? I know you've always wanted to go," he suggested. "Maybe it'll help clear your mind." I brightened up some.

"You mean it?" Sora nodded. I flung my arms around him.

"Sorry to break this moment, but we should be getting home," Riku said. Sora and I agreed.

"Thanks you guys," I said on our way home.

"You already thanked us," Riku said.

"I know, but I felt like I needed to say it again."

"I love you Kairi. Remember, I'll always protect you." Sora hugged me. (**A/N**: Sora said that to Kairi the day before they started dating last year.)

"I love you too, Sora," I replied feeling guilty. The three of us continued on our way home in silence.

**A/N**: Chapter 14, done. I wanted to thank **Rockbeast212** for a blackmail idea that you gave me a few chapter reviews back! Well guys, the climax of the story is starting to grow. The next chapters will start to get VERY interesting lol. I'm 2 reviews short of the amount of reviews for Dear Diary (DD has 224 reviews, and this has 222 reviews) I'm looking forward to seeing how many I'll get at the end of this story (remember, _past _27 chapters). Help me get over 400 reviews!


	15. Lying Tradgedies

**Axel-** I have decided to make a sequel so far. The reason for the WAL series not being this long was because those stories were pre-DD series... I wasn't able to really expand and go into detail then. Now I've learned how to make these stories better with every chapter. That's why.

**LilSora06**- Since I've already talked to you about it online there really isn't much I need to respond too lol.

**Flower Girl-** hee hee, thanks! Yeah i know what you mean with the whole offending thing, it sucks! lol glad you won't ditch this story, I like to keep my fans/reviewers XD. I so wish we could have a food fight. My friends and I want to have one on the last day of our senior year at school, but I highly doubt it'll happen lol. Nah, none of these teachers are actually mine, but I know what you mean with them pairing ppl up for projects! lol thanks for that awesome review and comments and stuff! Awesome skit thingy too! Can't wait to hear your next review!

**Chapter 15**- Lying Tragedies

"I lied! I hate liars! That makes me a hypocrite! I hate hypocrites!" I yelled out of frustration at Namine, Amanda, and Lissa the next day. They had come to visit me at work.

"What are you guys talking about?" Yuna asked walking out from the back room. We all looked at her. I bit my lip nervously. "You guys can trust me."

"You know she's right," Amanda said. It was true. Yuna was such a big hearted, trust worthy friend. I nodded and we filled her in on what happened the day before.

"Oh my," she said in shock. "That's not right at all. Are you going to tell Sora?"

"I want to, and I need to," I said. I sighed and put my head in my hands. "I'm too scared to." I felt a hand on my back.

"Everything will be all right. We're here to help." I looked up to see Namine, reach out to me. I smiled thankfully at her.

"We better let you get to work. We'll see you tonight Kai," Amanda said as the three walked out the door. I looked at Yuna.

"Do you know what she means by 'seeing me tonight'?" I asked.

"No clue," Yuna shrugged. A group of younger classmen came through the door, so Yuna and I knew we had to get to work. The day went by smoothly. Around eight, the bells on the door rang. I looked up. Sora, Namine, Cloud, Riku, and Amanda were walking in.

"Hey there," Sora said leaning against the counter toward me. I smiled sweetly at him.

"Can we borrow her?" Cloud asked pointing my way. Yuna was putting clothes on the racks. She smiled.

"Go on. I can manage for an hour. I'll see you tomorrow," she waved. I walked from behind the counter toward everyone.

"Thanks Yuna," I smiled and waved. She waved at the six of us as we left. As we walked out into the cool winter air, I asked, "So, uh, what are we doing?"

"Remember how I said we were going to go ice skating this week?" Sora replied. I nodded. "That's what we're doing."

"Are you serious?" I grinned as Cloud and Namine got into Cloud's car while Sora, Riku, Amanda, and I got into Riku's car.

"No, he's lying," Riku laughed. I laughed too, but still hit his arm. We drove to where the roller rink was, which became the ice rink in the winter. There weren't that many people there, which was nice. Our group got our ice skates and laced them up.

"So, who's actually been ice skating?" I asked as we stood around the rink watching the other people skate around. It remained silent between us.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Namine said. I nodded with a smile.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Cloud opened the door. Sora went out first, but moved and held onto the side waiting for the rest of us. I followed and stood next to him. Cloud and Namine stood on the other side of the door, while Riku walked out. He slowly moved inch by inch and Amanda stood in the doorway.

"Come on Riku, move a little faster," Sora laughed. Riku shot a glare at him. He stumbled. Amanda reached out for him. He lost his balance and grabbed her hand. She lost her balance too. Riku fell back, pulling Amanda down with him.

"Ah!" she yelled falling onto the hard ice. We all busted up laughing. Riku tried to stand up but just fell harder.

"Oh my gosh, that's so funny!" I couldn't stop laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha! Let's see you let go of the side and skate," Riku said sarcastically. I let go of the railing and reached for Riku. He held up his hand; as I was pulling him up, he pulled me down.

"Gah!" I fell down right next to the now laughing Riku. Everyone was laughing with him. I looked at my silver haired friend. "You're evil!"

"Am not!" he said taken aback. Sora, Namine, and Cloud all let go of the railing.

"Come on, we're wasting time. Let's skate!" Sora smiled reaching for me. I took his hand and stood up. I slipped again but fell into Sora. He caught me and him from falling.

"Heh, thanks," I said. He just grinned. Cloud helped up Riku while Namine helped up Amanda. "'Kay guys, let's go."

Sora took my hand as we slowly made our way around the rink. It took a while but soon everyone caught the hang of it. Sora let go of the railing and we moved at a decent pace. I looked at him, smiling.

"Are you sure you haven't done this before?" I asked. He looked at me.

"I did it once or twice when I was younger," he told me. I only shook my head and smiled as we continued to skate around. It was a gorgeous night. The stars twinkled happily. Lit up snowflakes were hanging over the rink to get the festiveness of Christmas going. They played soft holiday jingles. For once, I was feeling like a little kid again. My Christmas spirit was finally returning.

A week had past and I still hadn't said anything to Sora about the date with Shawn. There was one week left until Sora left to visit his parents and my friends from Star City would arrive. It was after school on Monday. Shawn was coming over.

"Kairi, Shawn's here!" I heard my mom say from the living room. Sora, Roxas, and I were in Sora's room playing video games. Sora paused the game and looked at me.

"Shawn's here?" he asked, looking shocked. I nodded slowly.

"Uh, here Roxas," I handed him the controller. "We have to work on our project."

"You're still not done with it?" Roxas asked me.

"Sadly, no," I responded standing up and heading down the steps. Once I entered the living room, I saw Shawn.

"You have a computer, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do." I said walking into the den, where Shawn followed. My dad was in there working as usual.

"Hello Kairi. You must be Kairi's friend, Shawn," my dad smiled.

"Uh, he's not my friend," I protested. Shawn ignored that comment but walked up to my father.

"Yeah, I'm Shawn. Nice to meet you, Sir," Shawn shook his hand.

"I'll let you two get to work," My dad got up and left the room. I glared at Shawn, slightly pushing his shoulder.

"What's with the funny business, calling my mom, 'ma'am' and my dad, 'sir'?" I asked suspiciously.

"I have a way with parents," Shawn shrugged and sat down in the chair. I rolled my eyes. The two of us did our research before I told him I had to get to work. Sora was walking down the stairs when I was leading Shawn to the door.

"How much more needs to be done?" I asked him as he opened the door.

"Meet me in the library tomorrow after school and we can get it done," he said. I nodded as he left. As I closed the door, Sora walked up to me.

"You're meeting him tomorrow?" He seemed edgy.

"Yeah, but this will be the last time. I promise." I kissed his cheek. I was about to turn to head to my room and get my things for work when Sora grabbed my arm and didn't let go. I turned to look at him.

"Is there something I should know about?" Sora was slightly quieter then normal. "You can tell me. I promise I won't get mad."

"N-no." I shook my head, swallowing hard. "There isn't anything. Just the project."

"All right." He sounded doubtful but let me go. We stood still for a second before I hesitantly walked toward the stairs. I had lied again. I left for work without saying or receiving a goodbye from anyone.

The last bell rang at the end of the next day. Shawn told me he'd meet me in the school library while I went to put my things away in my locker. As I closed my locker, I saw Sora standing there. I jumped out of surprise.

"Sora!" I said as he laughed.

"Everyone's going to do homework in the library. I figured I'd escort you," he smiled, causing me too.

"Thank you," I replied as I took his hand and the two of us headed over to our library. Once we walked through the double doors, I saw Cloud, Riku, Roxas, Amanda, and Namine.

"I'll be around if you need me," Sora said as he went to meet our friends. I walked over to where Shawn was.

"Okay, lets hurry and get this project over with," I said sitting down. Shawn looked over my shoulder. I turned to see what he was looking at. Sora and everyone were talking and a few laughs were heard. I turned back to Shawn with a confused expression. He looked back at me, leaning in.

"He knows something is up, huh?" he whispered.

"I think so." I looked down.

"Well after this date coming up next week, everything will go back to normal. He won't know a thing."

"Who won't know a thing?" Some females voice asked right behind me. Shawn and I looked up to see Cindy, Sarah, Christy, and Amber.

"Sora," Shawn replied.

"Oh, I heard about that date thing." Amber crossed her arms. It's funny how these four girls were friends, yet Christy and Amber are complete opposites of Sarah and Cindy.

"You're a real jerk Shawn." Christy glared at him. It's nice to know someone besides my friends didn't like Shawn. He just sank in his chair and shrugged.

"So I've heard," he replied lazily. Christy rolled her eyes and walked away with Amber. Sarah watched them walk away while Cindy looked at Shawn with a smile.

"So what won't Sora know?" she asked. I glared at her.

"About Kairi's and my date," Shawn told her.

"He doesn't know?" Sarah asked slyly. He shook his head. Sarah looked at Sora and smirked. Once I noticed this, I stood up.

"Will you two idiotic girly girls leave?" I asked aggravated. Cindy and Sarah smiled at each other before looking at me.

"Sure thing Kairi," Cindy replied evilly before walking away with Sarah.

"I'll be right back," I told Shawn as I headed down an isle where I saw Amanda and Namine go.

"Hey Kairi!" Amanda grinned. I slightly smiled.

"What's wrong?" Namine asked noticing my smile.

"What I'm doing, is it considered cheating?" I asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" She looked confused.

"With me agreeing to go on a date without Sora knowing, would that be considered cheating?" I restated my question.

"It depends," Namine said.

"Yeah," Amanda added. "It could be considered cheating to some people. People who don't know the exact situation."

"And the other people who do know the situation, they don't really think of it as real cheating," Namine finished. I nodded.

"Thanks guys," I said turning back to work on my project with Shawn. The two of us worked a little while until Amanda quickly ran over to me.

"Kai, I found some... information... on your project!" Amanda pulled me out of my seat and down one of the isles. She looked around frantically.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Amanda looked at me dead in the eye. I was starting to worry about her.

"They're planning to tell Sora!"

"Who's 'they' and tell Sora what?"

"I over heard Cindy telling Sarah that she's going to tell Sora about the promise ring and the date thing with Shawn." She tried to stay calm and quiet. It took a second for it to sink in for me.

"What!"

"Kairi, we have to do something!" Amanda said.

"Get everyone out of the library. We're going home. I'll tell Shawn that I'll do the rest or something," I said running down the isle. Once I got to the table I had been working on with Shawn, I started to grab papers we got for our project.

"What are you doing?" Shawn asked. My heart was racing so fast.

"I need to go! Look, I'll do whatever is left," I quickly said.

"I'll take care of it," he told me. I was shocked that he was actually willing to do it, but I didn't have the time to do anything about it. He gathered his things. I saw Sarah, Cindy, Christy, and Amber heading our way. I turned and ran toward my friends, who were heading out the door.

"Come on!" I grabbed onto Sora's hand and ran out of the building.

"Why are we running?" I heard Roxas ask.

"Kairi, slow down," Sora said. I looked behind me to see my friends running down the stairs behind us. The library doors opened as the other five people walked out.

"Oh, Sora!" Cindy called out to him. Sora stopped, causing everyone else to stop. I tugged on Sora's arm like a little kid.

"Sora, let's go!" I pleaded as everyone walked toward us.

"Kai, chill out, will you?" He looked at me before looking at Cindy. My stomach and the muscles on my body started to tense up, causing me to shake a little. "Yeah?"

"Have you looked at Kairi's hand lately?" Sarah asked. I quickly let go of Sora and put my hands behind my back.

"What about Kairi's hand?" Sora asked.

"Look at her left hand," she instructed him. Sora looked at me. I shook my head.

"Let me see," he said.

"N-no. Sora, I can explain!" I said.

"Let me see your hand Kairi," he said sternly. I took a deep breath and with my hand slightly shaking, I showed him my left hand. I looked over to see Cindy and Sarah grinning. "Where's your ring?" Sora asked quietly.

"I-" I started before someone interrupted me.

"Kairi's going on a date with Shawn. She _gave _him the ring as a guarantee that she'll go on a date with him while you go on vacation," Cindy answered.

"What! That's not true!" I yelled outraged.

"That's a lie!" Namine said. Amanda, Amber and Christy all agreed.

"Don't believe them Sora!" Amanda yelled. I looked over at him.

"Where's your ring?" he asked again. There was no way out of hiding the fact that the ring really was with Shawn.

"Shawn has it," I replied quietly.

"Well, so far they're right," Sora said. He looked at Amanda and Namine. He shook his head in disappointment. "And you two knew about it. No one bothered to tell me. You three were keeping a secret from me. Kairi, remember what I said before? This relationship is fifty-fifty. We work together. That means you tell me when things like this happen. How long ago did you give him the ring, and why are you going on a date with Shawn?"

"Sora, I didn't-" I was cut off again. I was so frustrated.

"A week ago," Shawn said crossing his arms. I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs. Sora let go of my hand, shaking his head.

"You disappoint me," he said in a whisper before walking through us. I grabbed his arm.

"Sora..." I said quietly. He got out of my grip without looking back at us. We all stood motionlessly as Sora walked across the lawn to the main building and disappeared behind the closing doors.

"Good job," I heard Cindy say to Sarah happily. I snapped my head over to them.

"You guys sink lower and lower every time. You enjoy ruining peoples lives by lying! That's just wrong and sick. I've never hated anyone as much as I hate you three assholes. I hate you with a passion and I'm not that kind of person. You'll never grow up, will you?" I hissed at them angrily. "Once again, you continue to make my life a living hell." I walked away. I couldn't take seeing them. Now Sora's mad at me which I had expected, but it wasn't even for the right reason.

"Kairi, wait up!" Cloud called to me. My five friends caught up to me. "We just got the real explanation."

"They shouldn't have lied," Riku said.

"But they did, that's the problem," I said as we started heading in the direction of our homes.

"You shouldn't have kept it from Sora, but I see where you're coming from for not saying anything too," Cloud said. I nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to go home and try my best to solve this mess. It's not only those three's fault, but mine as well," I told them. We all walked home together. Once Roxas and I got home, my mom greeted us from inside the living room.

"What's wrong with Sora? He seems down," My mom said.

"Long story," I sighed heading up the stairs with Roxas right behind me. We reached Sora's room. His door was closed and locked shut. I could hear music playing.

"Think he'll answer?" Roxas asked me. I shrugged.

"Sora. Sora, open up!" I said knocking on his door. "Come on Sora, please open up!"

"Kairi," Roxas grabbed my wrist and pointed to the door where a sign was put up.

"Don't feel like talking. Leave me alone," I read aloud. I looked at Sora's cousin. "I feel like crap."

"Everything will be all right. It'll all work out in the end," he said trying to comfort me. I nodded slightly.

"Thanks Roxas," I said hugging him.

"You're my cousins' girlfriend, like family," he said. I smiled slightly before heading into my room where Precious was asleep. I got under the covers and got cozy. Precious snuggled next to me as I watched TV.

Before I knew it, it was already six. I figured I would try to talk to Sora again before supper time. I got out of bed and walked to the room next mine. His door was open; however, no one was in there. I went into Roxas's room at the other end of the hall.

"Have you seen Sora?" I asked.

"Nope," he replied. I walked back into my room and grabbed the jacket Sora gave me from last year and put it on. I headed down the stairs. My mom was making dinner while my dad was in the den working.

"Have either of you seen Sora?" I asked them both.

"He said he was going for a walk," my dad answered. I ran toward the door.

"Make sure you hurry home. Dinner will be ready soon," my mom said.

"I will," I replied before leaving the house. '_Where could he be?_' I asked myself. Sora could be anywhere. Thankfully he went for a walk instead of a drive. If he drove somewhere, I knew I would never find him. I kept trying to think of places he could be. Finally, it clicked.

I quickened my pace into a run. The cold air burned my cheeks and caused my eyes to water. Finally, I came across the pathway to the hidden beach. The beach was where Sora made me go for Valentines Day last year and gave me my promise ring. Sure enough, as I made it past the trees, Sora was in view. He was on the shore, looking out. I walked quietly next to him.

"Hey," I said, trying to be the littlest bit cheerful.

"Hi," he replied in a monotone voice.

"So..." I was trying to find a way to start the conversation that needed to be started.

"I can't believe you hid the whole promise ring ordeal from me. I asked you if something was wrong. I even said I wouldn't get mad. All you said was nothing was wrong. You lied to me Kairi," Sora said. I looked down shamefully.

"I know, and I'm sorry," I replied.

"Sorry's don't cover for it this time."

"Don't you think I feel bad enough?" I asked looking back at him.

"Don't you think I feel hurt that my own girlfriend _lied _and _hid _something from me?" he asked.

"I know! I'm sorry Sora! At least let me explain the real story."

"Kairi, right now, I don't think I can handle the truth," Sora said walking to the pathway. I watched him walk away, while I just stood there. I couldn't believe any of this was happening.

**A/N**: Dang! Can you believe any of that happened? It figures that Shawn, Cindy, and Sarah spilled, even though it wasn't the right reason. Grrr on them! Well **Kingdom Hearts 2 **is coming out within 2 weeks. That means all my stories are going to be on hold until I'm done. I'm sure most of you won't even be on the website until you're finished as well. So that means, if you guys want, I'll update next weekend to make up for the time I miss. Just let me know in your review if you want me to!


	16. The Arrival

**A/N**: See I updated just because I love you all so much! This chapter isn't anything too special, but the flashback in the end will help clear things up in chapter 17. Sorry for the delay! was having issues so I couldn't update like promised! But now it's here!

**Chapter 16-** The Arrival

Friday finally rolled around. It was finally Winter Break. Sora still avoided the situation. We didn't talk too much but at least he still hung around compared to last year's fight. Thankfully, we didn't break up this time either. Roxas was helping Sora pack in his room since he was leaving early tomorrow morning.

"Hey Jenna," I said into the phone since I had decided to call.

"Kairi! I'm so excited!" Her enthusiasm made me laugh.

"When are you coming tomorrow?" I asked.

"Probably somewhere around eleven," she answered.

"All right," I replied.

"Kids, dinner is ready!" my mom called up to us.

"I have to go. Dinner is ready," I told Jenna.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow Kai!" she said happily before we hung up the phone. I got up and walked out of my bedroom. Roxas walked out of Sora's room and down the stairs. I was just about to follow him when Sora walked out in front of me. We both stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other.

"Go ahead," Sora said taking a step back so I could pass. I gave him a small nod and walked down the stairs with him right behind me. We met up with my parents and Roxas at the dinner table.

"So are you excited to go see your parents?" my dad asked Sora.

"Yeah. It'll be good to see them. I really do miss my mom and dad," he replied. I smiled at the thought of their happy reunion.

"I'm sure they miss you too," my mom said. Sora smiled at her.

"Lucky him. He gets to leave work while I get to work double time," Roxas sighed. Everyone laughed.

"I'm sorry," Sora smiled at his cousin.

"Hey, don't worry about it. More money for me." He grinned causing us to laugh once more.

"So when are your friends getting into town?" my mom asked me.

"Jenna said around eleven," I answered.

"How are the sleeping arrangements going to be?"

"Jenna, Casey, and I will be in my room. I don't know about Kyle and Chris."

"They can stay in my room," Sora spoke up.

"Thanks," I responded quietly. He just looked at me before returning to his food. We all ate quietly for a while. After eating, we all helped clear the table.

"Do you guys want me to call you at all while I'm gone?" Sora asked as he handed plates over to my mom. I wanted to yell 'of course' out to him, but my mom beat me to it.

"No, that's all right, dear. You live with us and we enjoy and love you, but this is your time to spend time with your parents. They're the ones who deserve your attention this week. Don't worry about us," my mom smiled, earning a smile in return from Sora.

"Thanks," he hugged her. "I better go upstairs and pack the rest of my things," Sora walked up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Mom," I said. She looked at me as Roxas walked into the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"Don't you think Sora should call when he gets to the other island? Just so we know he's safe?" I asked.

"Kairi, he's almost 18, he'll be fine," she laughed walking out of the room. Roxas looked over at me.

"I'm sure he'll call while he's gone," he said.

"Really?" I asked, slightly skeptical.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Princess walked up to me, wagging her tail. I bent down to pet her golden fur.

"Why am I so doubtful?" I questioned to her, but meaning it to myself. Princess put her paw on my hand and gave me a sympathetic look like she understood.

The next morning, I woke up at nine and got ready. By nine-thirty, I met everyone downstairs. Sora had his luggage set by the door as everyone gathered near him. My parents were hugging him.

"Have a safe trip," my mom said.

"Tell your parents 'hi' for us," my dad added.

"Thanks, and I will," Sora responded picking up his bags.

"Come on Sora," Roxas said opening the door. He was dressed in his work uniform.

"I'm coming," I suddenly said. They all looked at me as I headed over to meet them.

"I'm going to drop Sora off, then go to work," Roxas informed me.

"I'll drive and drop you both off because I'm going to meet up with my friends in about an hour anyway," I said.

"Alright." We walked out of the house and walked over to my car. Sora put his things in the trunk. We heard a door close near by. The three of us looked up to see Cloud walk out of his house.

"Leaving already?" he asked walking over to us.

"Yep," Sora answered. "You can come with us if you want."

"Yeah, 'cause after this, I'm going to meet up with Jenna, Casey, Chris, and Kyle," I said.

"Alright, that works," Cloud said. I got in the drivers seat while Cloud sat in the passenger seat. Roxas sat behind Cloud and Sora, behind me. On the way to the shipping docks, I kept looking back at Sora through the rearview mirror. He looked out the window the whole time. I couldn't help but feel bad for this whole mess. The fifteen minute drive was a pretty quiet one.

I pulled up to the shipping docks. The four of us all got out. Sora grabbed his bags and we all walked with him to show the people who worked there, Sora's ticket. Sora set down his bags as the people came to load them on the ship to take him islands away. He looked at us.

"Have fun, dude," Cloud said patting him on the back.

"Tell your parents 'hey' for me," Roxas said. Sora nodded and looked at me. I stood there with my hands clamped behind me.

"Stay safe," I told him.

"Have fun with your friends," he replied. The ship's horn went off telling all passengers to get on. "I better get going."

"We'll see you in seven days," Cloud smiled. Sora hugged me quickly before turning to get on the ship. I looked down. I didn't even get a kiss goodbye.

"Come on Kai, I need to get to work," Roxas said. I nodded and turned around to follow the other two. I got one last look of the docks. The ship was removing its ropes as it started to pull away.

"Goodbye Sora. I'll miss you," I whispered softly, hoping somehow the light breeze would carry those words to him. Roxas, Cloud, and I got into my car and we drove to Best Buy where we dropped off Roxas. After, Cloud and I headed toward the beach.

"Well that was an interesting goodbye," Cloud said breaking the awkward silence that fell between the two of us.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I said.

"Everything will be fine. It'll all go back to normal before you know it." He tried to comfort me.

"That's what everyone's said. Hopefully you're all right." My cell phone, which was in the cup holder, rang. We both looked at it. "Can you get that for me?"

"Yeah." He picked up my cell and answered it. "Hey Jenna. You guys are here already? Alright, we'll meet you guys, wait, where are you?" He nodded. "Okay, we'll meet you there." He hung up the phone and returned it to the cup holder.

"So, where are we going?" I asked.

"To the Flowering Tree Café in Town Square," Cloud informed me. I nodded and headed toward Town Square. The drive was an anxious one. It had been a while but we knew this reunion was going to be great and well worth it. We pulled into Town Square and parked in the parking lot for the Flower Tree Café.

"Kairi! Cloud!" Casey, a girl with dark brown hair and light brown eyes, called. Jenna was running out of the café after Casey. They both hugged me while Cloud met up with a blond haired boy with green eyes, known as Chris and a blond haired boy with brown eyes, known as Kyle.

"It's good to see you two again," Kyle said.

"Same here," Cloud agreed.

"Hey Kai?" Casey caught my attention.

"Hum?" I answered.

"Didn't you say you guys are in a band?" she asked. I nodded. "This café is taking bands for a concert night."

"When is it?" I asked quite interested.

"A week from today," Chris said.

"Kai, we can't do it," Cloud told me.

"Why not?" I asked confused.

"Sora's the other lead singer. How would One Destiny perform when we haven't practiced?"

"Well, I want to do this. So, I'll just call up Namine and Amanda. We can sing together," I smiled.

"Do it! I think it'll be cool to hear you sing other than in the car or at our houses," Jenna laughed. I laughed slightly too.

"Hey, where's Josh?" Kyle asked us.

"I'll call him," Cloud said pulling out his cell phone. He called up our other friend and told him to meet us at the café. We sat inside and waited for him to arrive. As soon as he got here, we had our mini reunion. The seven of us hung out the whole day, mostly showing the four around. We agreed to introduce everyone tomorrow. Soon it started to get dark, so Josh went home while Cloud and I led the way to our homes. We stopped by my house first.

"Mom, look who's here!" I called once we walked into my house. My mom walked out from the den.

"Aw, it's good to see you kids again." My mom hugged each of them.

"We're going to my room real fast; then, we're heading to Cloud's house." We ran upstairs to my bedroom.

"Your house and room are so cool Kai!" Jenna smiled putting her bags down.

"Where are we going to stay?" Chris asked.

"Sora said you can stay in his room," I said.

"Or you can stay over at my house. My room is right there," Cloud pointed out my side window.

"That works," Kyle responded.

"Let's go." Cloud walked down the stairs. The five of us followed him to his house. We ended up eating dinner there. It really was different between us compared to Cloud and me hanging out with our other friends here. By eight-thirty, Jenna, Casey, and I left. As we were walking out of Cloud's house, Casey said something.

"Kai, who's that?" She pointed across the street. Jenna and I looked in that direction.

"Oh, no," I said under my breath as we stopped.

"What's wrong?" Jenna asked quietly, completely clueless of whom this person was.

"Hey Kairi," Shawn said slyly as he walked up to the three of us.

"What do you want?" I asked crossing my arms.

"Date. Tomorrow," he answered.

"What! No, tomorrow I have plans," I protested, shaking my head.

"Look, I don't want to argue with you in front of your friends. However, the longer you hold out on this date, the longer I keep your ring, and the longer Sora stays mad at you for lying to him," he said crossing his arms too. I sighed angrily.

"When is it?" I rolled my eyes.

"Noon," he replied. I gave a quick nod before walking away with the other two right behind me. We walked into my house, leaving Shawn to whatever he was going to do.

"Who was that?" Jenna asked me once we walked into my room.

"Shawn," I replied sourly.

"Oh! So he's the guy you've been talking about," Casey said. I nodded.

"He's not bad looking," Jenna randomly said. I looked at her wide-eyed and shook my head, covering my ears.

"Please! Please don't say that," I pleaded. "I'll disown you as a friend if you like him."

"Don't get the impression I like him! After hearing all about the crap he's done to you, I wouldn't ever like someone like him." She looked at me.

"Good," I sighed in relief. "Hey, I have to go use the computer real fast, just make yourselves at home. The bathroom is across the hall. Get food if you're hungry. I'll be back in a bit."

I walked out of my room and down the stairs. I let Princess inside as I got downstairs. My parents were in the living room watching TV as I went into the den. I quickly signed online. I hoped Namine and Amanda would be on. (**A/N**: Wow, this is the first time I mentioned getting online in this story. I think this maybe the last time too.) Luckily they were. I added them into a chat room.

**PassionFromTheHeart89**: You guys! **DarkAngel1391**: Hey Kai! **KiwiFox137**: Hey guys. **PassionFromTheHeart89**: I have a problem... **KiwiFox137**: When don't you? **PassionFromTheHeart89**: Nam! I'm serious! **KiwiFox137**: lol, sry **DarkAngel1391**: What is it? **PassionFromTheHeart89**: My date's tomorrow -sad face- **DarkAngel1391**: What! **KiwiFox137**: What time? **PassionFromTheHeart89**: Noon. **DarkAngel1391**: We'll be there. **PassionFromTheHeart89**: Come over early. I want to introduce you guys to my friends **KiwiFox137**: Okay **DarkAngel1391**: So how is it for Roxas and you not to have Sora around?

That's when I looked at my clock. It was nine-thirty. My eyes got big.

**PassionFromTheHeart89**: Omgsh! I need to pick Roxas up! ttyl!

I signed off and ran up to my room to tell the two that I had to leave. They were perfectly okay with it. I rushed down the stairs and out the door. I drove as fast as I could without breaking the law, all the way to Best Buy. Right outside, stood a cold, jacket-less, blond haired kid. I pulled up and he got in the car.

"I'm so sorry!" I said as we started to pull onto the street.

"I thought you forgot about me." He rubbed his arms to regain his warmth.

"I'll make it up to you. Uh, I'll get you something to eat," I told him. I figured he was hungry since it was way after dinner after all.

"Okay, let's go," Roxas smiled. I drove him to a small diner and got him something to eat. After he had dinner while I had dessert, we headed home. The two of us walked up the stairs.

"I'm back," I said walking into my room. Jenna and Casey were petting Precious and Princess.

"Who's that?" Casey asked pointing behind me. I looked to see.

"Oh, you guys this is Sora's cousin, Roxas. Roxas, these are two of my best friends from Star City," I said introducing the three.

"Nice to meet you," Roxas waved.

"Same here," Jenna waved back as Casey smiled.

"Well, I'm dead tired. I'm off to bed. Talk to you guys in the morning. Night." He walked to his room where I heard his door shut.

"It is getting late. Maybe we should get to bed," I suggested. They agreed. We set up sleeping bags and got ready for bed. Within minutes, the lights were out and it was silent. I was sleepy, yet I couldn't get to sleep. I laid there, staring out my window.

Life had suddenly seemed more complicated. Thoughts swarmed my head. I knew my life wouldn't be perfect when I returned to Destiny City. I just didn't think it'd be this way. (**A/N**: This flashback is very important. It'll make more sense in the next chapter because it'll be explained better there.)

**Flashback**

I stared out the car window. Palm trees were standing perfectly still in the warm Destiny City area. Not too much had changed. It had expanded its city limits though. People were walking all around. The neighborhoods were calm, except for some with kids playing in their last weeks before school would start up again. We pulled up to two houses with moving vans out front.

"Come on Kairi. Welcome home," my dad smiled getting out of the car. My mom walked out of the house on the left. She had driven the other car, leading the movers here. I reached for the handle and opened the car door. I got out, closing the door and leaning against the car. I was just staring.

"What are you looking at?" Cloud asked me. His family was behind us on the way here. He was moving next door.

"I'm looking at my new house," I answered. Cloud looked at my house too.

"Why don't we go inside?" he suggested. I looked at him and nodded. We both walked down the sidewalk toward the open door of the two story house.

"I can't believe you Sora!" I heard a female voice laugh. I stopped dead in my tracks. Cloud looked at me.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I-I thought I heard someone say So-" I was cut off by a door closing across the street. Cloud and I turned around but saw nothing.

"That was strange," Cloud said. I nodded in agreement. "Now, what were you saying?"

"Uh, nothing. Let's go inside." I ran through the door, followed by Cloud. I stopped in the entry way and looked around in awe. In front was a long entry-hallway that was really large. At the end of it, were the stairs facing the sliding glass backdoor. There were three entry ways. We walked forward a little. On the left was the dining room with an entryway to the kitchen. On the right was a decently large living room with an entry in the corner to the den. My parents said there was a small room in the den for laundry, which I thought was odd.

"Let's keep looking." Cloud walked to the stairs. I followed him. The last entryway was to the kitchen. I turned right and walked up the stairs. I looked at the wall on my left, knowing my mom would put pictures here. We got to the top. On the right of the stairs was the master bedroom.

"Kairi, hunny. There are three other rooms. Pick anyone," my mom smiled at me.

"Okay." I looked at the room in front of me. It faced out to the front, toward the street. Something caught my eye. A blonde haired girl was walking out of the house across the street with her arms crossed. I couldn't distinguish her face as she walked down the right side of the street. Once she disappeared from view, I headed down the hall. We walked past the bathroom on the left and into the bedroom next to the first one.

"You should pick this one," Cloud said. I turned to look at him.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because my room's right there." He pointed to the window on the left. Across our two side yards was a window facing us. I smiled.

"Okay," I replied. He grinned before leaving my room. I walked to the other window that faced the same direction as the last room. I stared at the house across the street. Something about it interested me. I opened the window to let the fresh air in.

"I'll see you later, hope you work things out." I heard a male say. I tired to focus on the door. One boy was walking across the lawn to the house on the left, while a boy and girl waved from the doorway of the house across the street.

"Here are some of your things," someone said behind me. I turned around to see Cloud and my dad bringing in boxes. They set them down and walked out. I walked over to one of them and opened it carefully. Right there, on the top, was my light blue diary. The one my crush from when I had lived here before, Sora, had given me before I moved. I picked it up and was about to open it.

"Kairi! Can you come downstairs and help us!" my mom's voice called.

"Coming!" I answered putting the diary down and running out of my new room.

**End Of Flashback**

I quietly got up. My friends were sound asleep thankfully. I reached into my side drawer and got out my light blue diary. I flipped through the pages as I walked out of my room. I walked into Sora's dark room. The blinds were open, so I got some light from outside. I sat on Sora's full-sized bed, gazing out the window. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. (**A/N**: This one isn't so important)

**Flashback **

We had just arrived at Star City for our spring break. Cloud and I had spent the whole day with our friends. Now we were relaxing in our hotel room. I went out onto the balcony and saw the full moon. I called up Sora.

"Hello?" I heard him say through the other side.

"Hey," I said sweetly.

"Hey Kai. I miss you."

"I miss you too. By the way, look at the moon." I stared at the moon as I said that.

"Okay, I'm looking at it."

"Now we see the same thing." I heard a small laugh.

"Just make sure you look at it often, okay?" Sora said.

"I will."

**End of Flashback**

I opened my eyes and stared back at the moon. I felt my diary in my hands. I slipped it under his pillow so he could read the time from last year when he got back. I laid my head on the pillow after.

"Are you even looking at it like you told me to do?" I asked, wondering if Sora was looking at the moon as I had asked him last year.

**A/N**: Well that's it. Chapter 16 complete. I just want to say to all of you who'll be getting KH2 this week. Have fun! I'll write when I'm done playing the game. Later guys! Oh and I have Sanctuary lyrics on my profile!


	17. The Date

**Axel**- Welp, I finished Kingdom Hearts 2, so now I can update!

**embereyes**- All I can tell ya is that Christy is part of the flashback, but is it her? You'll find out in this chapter : D

**Flower Girl**- lol nice review! Well, so far, I think you're way in the lead for KH2 against your classmate! That game so rox! Oh,Ialso agree, guys never listen to girls... tisk tisk tisk on them lol.

**A/N**: I finished Kingdom Hearts 2 on Tuesday, and since I played that game, I got over my writer's block and now I can work on all my stories! XD That game is awesome and all of you who haven't played it, you'll be pleased. Anyway, onto this chapter!

**Chapter 17**- The Date

"Kairi. Wake up," I heard someone say. They seemed kind of distant. I pulled the covers over my head. Someone began to shake me awake. I refused to get up.

"She sure is lazy, isn't she?" a different voice asked.

"Kai has always been this way," a girl's voice replied.

"Should we let her sleep?" There were so many people. All very recognizable, just not distinguishable.

"It's ten in the morning. We can't let her sleep in any more," yet another voice spoke. My eyes opened but I didn't remove the covers.

"How'd she get in here?" The voices were getting clearer. This time it was Lissa's voice. I was confused on what they were talking about.

"Maybe she sleep walks," I heard Kyle say. My head hurt trying to understand.

"I've never known her to do that," Namine replied.

"It could be a new habit," Selphie suggested. How many people were actually in here?

"Try waking her up again," Tidus said.

"Kairi! Wake up!" Riku yelled.

"I'm awake!" I yelled through the covers.

"She lives!" Amanda said.

"Come on. Get up," I heard Yuna say.

"We only have two hours until your date," Jenna reminded me. I whined.

"Who is all in here?" I asked.

"I am," a large group responded simultaneously.

"That doesn't help," I replied.

"You really want to know?" Roxas asked.

"I asked, didn't I?"

"Well you have me," Cloud said. "Namine, Riku, Amanda, Roxas, Jenna, Casey, Chris, Kyle, Josh, Lissa, Selphie, Irvine, Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, and Lulu." My eyes widened. '_That's a lot of people!_' I thought.

"Shouldn't that be a fire hazard to have 18 people in my room?" I asked.

"But we're not in your room," Josh said. Now I was really confused.

"Why are all of you in Sora's room?" I heard Blake ask, who obviously just arrived. I was sure that he was with Alexa. I sat up. Everyone was standing around the bed. I really was in Sora's bed. I must have fallen asleep here by accident.

"Nice hair Kai," Riku laughed.

"Shush," I said putting my arms over my head. "You guys want to leave so I can quickly go get ready?"

"Yeah, but hurry up!" Roxas said. They all walked out of the room. I jumped out of bed and quickly made the bed before leaving to my room. After I got a spare change of clothes and walked into the bathroom to get ready, I met everyone downstairs.

"It's about time," Selphie commented after fifteen mintues.

"Ha, ha. Hey, let's enjoy the day before I have to change my attitude because of Shawn," I said. They all smiled and we headed out. I had never expected all of us, this new group of friends with the old, but I loved seeing everyone together. At the end of the week, this group would be complete, but until then, I'll enjoy what I have here.

We headed around town, showing Jenna, Casey, Kyle, and Chris around. I figured it would be easier to walk around then take four cars. We told jokes, talked about school, and even talked about life after school.

"So what does everyone have planned?" Jenna asked us.

"I want to move back to Star City after graduation," Cloud said.

"Yeah, same here," Josh agreed.

"I'm going to UDC," Roxas said.

"What's UDC?" Casey asked.

"University of Destiny City," Riku answered. "I'm going there too." Wakka, Lulu, Yuna, Selphie, and Irvine agreed as well.

"I'm going to DCC," I told them.

"Hey, I'm going to Destiny Community College too," Tidus grinned.

"I'm moving. Don't know where to though," Lissa said.

"I'm not graduating yet, obviously," Amanda said. Blake and Alexa were in the same situation.

"What about you Nam? You haven't said anything," I asked my best friend next to me. She was looking down at the ground before looking at me.

"Oh, uh..." Namine hesitated. "I'm going to move." Cloud, who was walking in front of me, stopped abruptly. I ran right into him.

"Cloud, why'd you stop?" I asked as he turned around.

"Namine, I thought were you coming to Star City with me?" Cloud asked her. Namine looked at him shamefully.

"I was. My mom and dad want to move to another island," she said quietly. I wasn't even expecting this. Silence fell around the group. Pairs of eyes glanced around the bodies to see who'd move first. Cloud just stared at Namine, whom looked at him pitifully. My blue eyes continued to switch from Cloud to Nam.

"Cloud, can Namine and you talk about this later? I mean I think it's something you two need to discuss alone and obviously you're not at the moment," Jenna said putting her hand on his shoulder causing him to finally release his stare from his girlfriend. He nodded slowly at first until it hit him.

"Yeah, good idea. We can talk about it later, right Nam?" Cloud looked back at her. She nodded. Finally, we were on our way again. Every now and then, I'd see Cloud glance back at Namine. I was really hoping this surprise announcement wouldn't ruin their relationship.

At eleven-thirty, Namine, Lissa, Amanda, and I headed back to my house to get ready for the dreaded date with Shawn. The three girls were trying to find ways to change something about their appearances, so not to be noticed. I was going through my closet to find something to wear.

"Kai, what are you doing?" Namine asked, who was wearing one of my big sweater jackets with a fuzzy-rimmed hood. I looked at her.

"I'm looking for something to wear for the date," I said raising an eyebrow.

"It's not like you're trying to impress anyone," Amanda, who was wearing one of Sora's large sweaters, pointed out. Lissa, who had her hair pulled up into a pony-tail and had sunglasses on, laughed. I laughed too.

"I guess you're right." I stuck my tongue out at them. Precious, who was on my windowsill, stood up and hissed at whatever she was looking at outside. The four of us knew it wasn't like her to hiss, so we ran to look out my window. Shawn was walking across the street toward my house.

"I think Precious sees past the outer appearance of Shawn now, too," Lissa grinned. I picked up my cat and hugged her.

"Good kitty." I praised her before putting her down. Finally, Shawn knocked. Princess started to bark. I looked at the girls. "Okay, I'll text you our location. Stay out of site at all costs, cause no offense, but those disguises suck." They laughed with me. "Take Namine's car, okay?"

"Got ya!" they all replied. I nodded before heading down the stairs and to the front door. I took a deep breath before turning the doorknob.

"Hi," I said to Shawn. He glanced at my outfit. I was wearing a white, off the shoulder sweater with light blue pants and black and blue shoes.

"I said a fancy date but a date is good enough," he said.

"Well, what are we going to do today?" I asked as I stepped outside, closing the door behind me.

"First, we're going to hang out at my house. Then at one, we're heading to the beach, then at four, we're having an early dinner; followed by a movie possibly," he informed me. I nodded. Shawn started down my sidewalk with me following. I pulled out my cell and texted the girls our date plan.

Shawn and I headed into his house. He led me up the stairs. Memories of earlier this year started to fly into mind. I tried to think of when Sora lived here. Memories of a certain event didn't help any either.

**Flashback** (**A/N**: This isn't the important one!)

I knocked on the door and Sora's mom answered again, "oh, hello Kairi."

"Hi. Um, is Sora here?" I asked.

"Yeah he is. He's in his room." She stepped aside as Princess and I walked in. I started to walk up the stairs quietly. My heart was pounding against my chest. Princess tried running up the stairs but I held her by her collar. I reached Sora's door, which was closed. I took in a deep breath and put my hand on the doorknob. Time seemed to slow down as I pushed open the door.

When the door finally opened. Princess got out of my grip and ran over to Sora who was by his window. I looked around his room. I saw the girl sitting on his bed looking back at me. She jumped up surprised.

My eyes widened. "YOU!" I said looking at her with my mouth dropped open.

"Kairi," Sarah said shocked.

**End of Flashback**

"No!" I suddenly screamed. I fell to my knees on the last step, heading to the second story. I clutched my head.

"Kairi!" Shawn said running over to me. Warm salty tears over filled my eyes. This outburst was so unexpected, even to me. I couldn't control any of my emotions. My memories were haunting me for no reason. "Kairi, what's wrong?"

"I- I can't talk about it," I sniffled helplessly. Shawn lifted me up and brought me into his room where more tears fell. I cried in my hands.

"Here." I looked up to see Kleenex's in front of my face. I took one and wiped my eyes. Shawn sat next to me, rubbing my back in a comforting way.

"Thanks," I managed to say almost in a whisper. He nodded.

"Just take slow deep breaths," he instructed me. I did as I was told. With my eyes closed and the relaxing technique, my heart rate was back to normal. Shawn stood up and looked down at me. The way he looked at me was an obvious hint. He wanted to know what caused me to have an outburst.

"Memories," I said looking at my hands. Without even having to look up at him, I knew he was confused. "Memories of my past. A memory of when Sora lived here."

"Wait, Sora lived here? In this exact house?" Shawn asked. I looked up at him before looking down again.

"Yes. Before he moved, he lived in this house. This was his room," I told Shawn.

"What was the memory?"

"Last year, Sarah tried to steel Sora way from me. Sora and I had got into an argument. One day, I came over to talk to him about it. I found Sarah here. I know it doesn't sound like much, but that argument really got to me," I explained. It was quiet for the longest time. Shawn mostly just stared out the window while I just kept to myself.

Shawn and I headed to the beach early. The calm, small, rolling waves crashed gently onto the cool sand. Shawn was walking a little ahead of me with his hands in his pocket. I glanced around the few groups of people who were at the beach. By the sidewalk, my three friends were looking at a magazine together on the bench. I felt kind of bad for making them my hidden security.

"I'll be back in a second. I'm kind of thirsty," I called to Shawn. He nodded. I made my way up the beach. Without trying to make it obvious, I hinted for my friends to follow me. I walked across the street to a mini-mart. Moments later, the girls walked in.

"What's up Kai?" Namine asked.

"You guys don't have to do this, you know."

"Do what?" Lissa questioned.

"Being my secret service members practically," I cleared it up. They laughed.

"Kairi, we choose to do this," Amanda reminded me. I smiled.

"I better get back to so Shawn doesn't get so suspicious," I told them. They agreed. I walked out of the store and back to the shore.

"Where's your drink?" Shawn asked me.

"Huh?" I replied in confusion.

"You said you were thirsty," he pointed out.

"Oh, yeah! I just got a drink from the water fountain," I made up quickly.

"Um, okay," he said doubtfully. Shawn started to walk up the beach; near where the girls were sitting. My eyes widened. I quickly ran to catch up to him.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to go eat," he answered. He stopped next to my friends and looked at me.

"I thought we were going at four?"

"Change of plans," Shawn said. "We're going to go now. Oh, also," He looked at Nam, Amanda and Lissa. "Your friends can come too." The four of us were shocked.

"How'd you know it was us?" Amanda asked.

"Because one, you three aren't disguised well enough and two, once Kairi left, you left. Once she returned, so did you," Shawn answered. We all looked at each other dumbfounded. He started to walk down the sidewalk. The four of us followed.

Once we arrived at the little restaurant, we were sat at a rather large table. Shawn sat at the end. I was seated on the side, next to him and Namine. On the other side of Nam was Amanda then Lissa. We ordered our drinks. I looked around the empty table, curious to why we were seated here.

"Hey, we're here," a girl with green eyes and light orange hair that was a little shorter than her shoulders and was spiked slightly at the ends had said. She sat across from me. Next to her sat a tall guy with black hair and brown eyes. The guy next to him was buff and had light brown hair and gray blue eyes. They were the ones who came over to my house with Shawn earlier in the school year. Christy and Amber sat on our side of the table while Sarah and Cindy sat next to the other two guys.

"It'd like you to meet a couple of my friends. Kairi, this is Lily (**A/N**: a.k.a. Lili-Sama!), Jake, and Tyler," Shawn pointed to each one.

"Hi," I said back.

"Hey Kairi," Lily replied. She didn't seem too bad but I couldn't let my guard down that easily.

"Why are we all here?" Christy asked.

"Because Kairi's friends already ruined the date. I figured I'd at least have my friends here. Kairi needs to get used to you guys," Shawn answered. I rolled my eyes. I looked over at Namine, who had her arms crossed. '_The blond girl from when I moved here... that was..._' I suddenly realized who it was.

"Namine!" I said. Everyone's eyes were on me. "The day I moved back. I saw four people in front of Sora's house. Was that you?" Namine looked up, obviously in thought.

"Sora, Riku, Namine, and me," Christy spoke up. Nam looked over at her.

"Oh yeah! I remember!" she said.

"Um, what exactly happened that day? Nam, you looked really pissed," I told her. Christy and Namine glanced at each other.

"Really want to know?" Namine asked. I nodded. (**A/N**: Here's that flashback from the last chapter in 3rd person point of view).

**Flashback**

Christy, Sora, and Namine were over at Riku's house. The four were enjoying their last couple weeks of summer. The two young teenage boys were laughing as they raced in a video game. Both blonde girls, Namine and Christy, watched attentively at the colorful TV screen.

"Almost there!" Sora yelled excitedly as he clicked the controllers' keys frantically.

"I'm right behind you!" Riku chanted proudly. Before Sora understood what his friend meant, Riku raced his car through the finish line.

"Aw man!" Sora jumped up and threw the controller on the ground.

"I win!" Riku cheered, causing the girls to laugh.

"It's okay Sora," Christy said to her boyfriend earning a small smile in return.

"I got this new game at my house. We should go play it," Sora suggested. The other three agreed to go with him. They all headed down the stairs. Sora and Christy held hands on the way across the front yards.

"Christy, did Sora ever tell you that we plan to start a band soon?" Riku asked. Christy looked at Sora.

"I can't believe you Sora!" Christy laughed. Sora grinned as they all entered this house. "When were you going to tell me?"

"As soon as we had all the preparations for it," he told her. She smiled before kissing him.

"You know I'm into guitar players," she giggled. Namine was gagging herself inside her mind. She never received a good vibe from her. Nam was the only one who didn't like her, that is besides Selphie.

"I'll beat you to your room Sora!" Riku suddenly said. The two hightailed it up the flight of stairs. Christy and Namine were left alone.

"Can I tell you something?" Christy asked quietly.

"What?" Namine replied.

"Do you know Billy Heart?"

"What about him?"

"First, I want to tell you since we're near each other often. I trust you not to tell Sor,."

"Just spill," Namine crossed her arms.

"Billy and I went out on a date over the weekend. At first it was just a casual friendship date, but then I started to fall for him," Christy explained. "At the end of the date, we must have kissed around fifty times."

"What!" Namine blurted out. "Tell Sora, now!"

"No! Namine, I swear if you tell him, you'll wish you were never born!" Christy threatened. Namine ran up the stairs.

"Sora!" Namine yelled to him as she ran into the room. The boys paused their game.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"Don't listen to her!" Christy cried as she came up from behind Namine.

"Christy cheated on you with Billy Heart!" Namine said. Silence filled the room.

"She wouldn't do that," Sora replied quietly.

"Exactly," Christy agreed, earning a glare from Namine.

"Listen to me Sora! Believe me," Namine pleaded. Riku remained quiet and unsure of the whole situation.

"Where's your proof?" Christy asked. That's where Namine was left stumped.

"Sora, just please believe me."

"Namine, I'm sorry, but I trust Christy. She wouldn't do that to me. We love each other. If she cares, she'll tell me," Sora said. The blue-eyed blonde couldn't respond. Namine crossed her arms and stormed out of the house. It was quiet until Christy's cell phone rang.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Riku finally spoke up. Christy opened her phone. It was Billy. Sora noticed this and felt his stomach turn.

"Put it on speaker," he told her. At first she hesitated but did as she was asked.

"Hello?" Christy said into her phone.

"Hey babe. I just wanted to tell you I had a wonderful time over the weekend. Next time, my house and maybe more kissing involved?" Billy laughed through the speaker. Sora lost his words. After they waved Riku off, the relationship ended not long after.

**End of Flashback**

"Wow..." I was speechless listening to their conversation. Now I understood why Sora didn't like the fact Christy hid her date. He trusted her. Sora trusted me. Everything suddenly became clear in my mind. I had done the same thing Christy did... I hid a date from Sora.

"That was horrible and I shouldn't have done that," Christy admitted. I was too caught up in thought to respond. Our waiter arrived at our table. Shawn pulled everything from his pockets to see how much money he had with him. My promise ring was set on the table with his license and some change as he pulled out his wallet. This was my chance for redemption. I quickly snatched my ring and stood up.

"This date's over!" I yelled at him. Amanda, Namine, and Lissa stood up too, with grins. Everyone seemed shocked at the sudden event. I smiled happily as I put my ring on. My friends and I started to leave.

"Kairi," Shawn said. I turned to see him standing up with a sly expression.

"What?" I asked.

"This won't be the last time," he said before sitting back down. I didn't really understand what he meant but I could really care less. The girls and I turned back around and headed to my house.

**A/N**: Yay! Chapter 17 done! I'm finally on spring break so I'll be able to update my stories a couple more times! Woo woot! Okay, welp, tell me what you thought. Oh, and all Alluring Beauty fans (the RoxasxNamine fic) will be updated this week!


	18. Sing Your Heart Out

**A/N: **Thank you all for reviewing! You guys are really keeping me encouraged!

**Chapter 18**- Sing Your Heart Out

Once we arrived in our neighborhood, Namine went to Cloud's house while Amanda and Lissa went to visit Riku. I walked into my house and up the stairs. Roxas was on the phone, heading down the hall toward me.

"Yeah, all right. Nice talking to you. Have fun and don't forget us." Roxas hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" I asked curiously.

"Sora," he answered.

"What!"

"He called to say he made it safe. I told him you were with the girls. I didn't mention that you went out on your date."

"I have to call him! I need to tell him something! I need to apologize!" I quickly said as I bolted down the stairs, not even remembering Roxas had one of the phones right there in his hand. One of the phones was on its charger before I picked it up. I started to press the numbers to Sora's parent's house.

"Kairi, what are you doing?" my mom asked.

"Calling Sora," I told her. She took the phone from my hands and turned it off. She put it back on the charger. I looked at her surprised. "Mom!"

"This is Sora's time to be with his family. You can live without him for a week." She started to walk into the living room.

"That's what you think. You don't have my guilty conscience," I said under my breath as I went back up stairs. Jenna and Casey walked down the wooden steps.

"Let's go to Cloud's house," Casey said.

"Isn't Namine supposed to talk to him?" I asked.

"Yeah, but that isn't going to be possible with Chris and Kyle there," she reminded me. Roxas walked down behind the two. He was in his work uniform.

"Kai, can I borrow your car?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said. He thanked me and walked past us after I gave him my keys. Jenna, Casey, and I went next door. We went up to Cloud's room where he, Nam, Kyle, and Chris were lounging around.

"Hey guys," I smiled.

"You're in a good mood," Chris said.

"Hey, wait. Shouldn't you be out on your date with Shawn?" Cloud asked. I grinned, holding up my left hand and wiggling my fingers. Namine smiled at me.

"Oh my gosh! You got your ring back!" Jenna cheered. "He finally gave it back?"

"No, I stole it back," I replied shrugging.

"That a girl, Kai," Kyle laughed.

"Oh! That concert for local bands! Nam, come with me over to Riku's," I told her. She nodded and stood up.

"Why are you doing it now?" Cloud asked.

"Because I have to work until Friday, then I get a vacation until school starts up again. So this is the only time I can practice except for after work," I explained.

"Oh, all right. Have fun." He waved along with the others. Namine and I headed out of Cloud's house. We crossed the street and over to Riku's house. His dad let us in. The two of us walked upstairs and into his room. Riku, Amanda, and Lissa were talking.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Melissa asked.

"Nam, Amanda, and I have to practice," I replied.

"What song are you going to sing?"

"Haven't decided yet."

"Do you want to do a song for Sora?" Amanda asked.

"I want a song that'll work for the three of us to Riku, Sora, and Cloud."

"I have a perfect song!" Lissa said getting into her bag. She pulled out a CD. "Here, listen to 'Every Time We Touch.'" Riku took the CD and put in his is stereo.

"You know, that title sounds provocative," Riku pointed out. We all laughed before we started to practice. The other two helped us put moves in. Well, mostly Lissa. Riku just watched us. I knew this performance was going to rock.

The week flew by. Cloud and Josh mostly hung out with the others since I had to work. We figured we'd all go back to Star City for Spring Break to make up for lost time. The concert was here. Namine, Amanda, and I were in my room getting ready.

The three of us were dressed exactly alike, just in different colors, all provided by 'The Wave'. The dresses were spaghetti-strap, which were tight until it got to our waist. It flowed out beautifully to right above our knees. Our heals were about three inches tall. They had a strap across the front and in the back of it, they laced up to our mid-calves. I was in a pink dress with light pink heals. Namine was in a blue one with light blue heals. Lastly, Amanda was in a purple dress with light purple heals. As we walked out of my room, we met up with everyone who were all going to watch us.

"Aw, you all look so pretty!" Selphie smiled.

"Thanks to Yuna for letting us use these dresses." I grinned at my friend and co-worker. She laughed sweetly. I noticed Roxas, Cloud, and Riku dressed fancier than normal but it just figured they were dressed for the occasion.

"Well, it's almost eight. We better go," Tidus said.

"Tonight is going to be awesome," Alexa hugged me. My cousin grinned at me as we headed out the door.

"We'll meet you there. We're going to pick up Mrs. Conley," my dad said.

"All right," I called back. I didn't think they'd go but I was excited. Cloud, Namine, Riku, Amanda, and Blake got into Cloud's car. Selphie, Irvine, Tidus, and Yuna drove away in Selphie's car. Roxas, Alexa, Josh, Lissa, and I took my car. Jenna, Casey, Kyle, and Chris took Kyle's car.

We headed over to the Flowering Tree Café. A lot of people were there. Nam, Amanda, and I checked our names off on the board of bands that were going to be performing. Our group was scattered at the tables near the back. Groups were already going. So far, all of them were great. Normally, I never got nervous to sing but tonight was different in a way I didn't know.

"Up next is Half A Heart!" the announcer called.

"That's you!" Jenna smiled. Namine, Amanda, and I got up with smiles as everyone wished us luck. The three of us got on stage, putting on the headset microphones so we could dance to the song.

"This song is dedicated to Cloud Strife, Riku Koru, and Sora Hikaru." I said into the mic. The music started, cuing us up to begin. Namine stood to my left and Amanda stood to my right.

_I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me,_

_I still feel your touch in my dreams. (my dreams)_

_Forgive me my weakness,_

_But I don't know why._

_Without you it's hard to survive._

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I get this feeling,_

_and every time we kiss,_

_I swear I can fly_

_Can't you feel my heart beat fast?_

_I want this to last,_

_Need you by my side._

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I feel the static,_

_and every time we kiss,_

_I reach for the sky._

_Can't you hear my heart beat so?_

_I can't let you go,_

_Want you in my life._

_Your arms are my castle,_

_Your heart is my sky._

_They wipe away tears that I cry. (I cry)_

_The good and the bad times,_

_We've been through them all._

_You make me rise when I fall._

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I get this feeling,_

_and every time we kiss,_

_I swear I can fly._

_Can't you feel my heart beat fast?_

_I want this to last,_

_Need you by my side._

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I feel the static,_

_and every time we kiss,_

_I reach for the sky._

_Can't you hear my heart beat so?_

_I can't let you go,_

_Want you in my life._

_'Cause every time we touch,_

_I get this feeling,_

_and every time we kiss,_

_I swear I can fly._

_Can't you feel my heart beat fast?_

_I want this to last,_

_Need you by my side._

After we were done, cheers were heard around the area we were sitting. I felt like someone was watching me from the side of the stage. When I looked, no one was there. '_Weird..._' I thought as I walked off stage as the next group went up. We sat down at our tables.

"You guys were wonderful," Casey commented us.

"Thanks," Amanda smiled. I was facing away from the stage so I could talk to my friends. In the middle of the performance, Cloud, Roxas, and Riku excused themselves.

"Wonder where they're going," I said. They all just shrugged. I rested my arms on the table, putting my head on my crossed arms. Soon the band ended their song.

"Up next is, The Other Half!" the announcer called. Everyone at my table cheered. For some reason, I didn't have the heart to. Laziness fell upon me; all I wanted to really do was to hold Sora. The music slowly started. It sounded so familiar. A familiar voice started to sing.

_this is my Decemberthis is my time of the yearthis is my Decemberthis is all so clear _

_this is my Decemberthis is my snow covered homethis is my Decemberthis is me alone_

_and Ijust wish that I didn't feellike there was something I missedand Itake back all the things I saidto make you feel like thatand Ijust wish that I didn't feellike there was something I missedand Itake back all the things I said to you_

_and I give it all awayjust to have somewhere to go togive it all awayto have someone to come home to_

I recognized it. Everyone at our tables looked at me with smirks or grins. I slowly raised my head and turned around. On stage were four guys, Cloud, Roxas, Riku, _and _Sora. Sora was singing full heartedly. I forgot he was coming home a week later. The song continued as I watched in awe at all the passion he put in this song.

_this is my Decemberthese are my snow covered dreamsthis is me pretendingthis is all I need _

_and Ijust wish that I didn't feellike there was something I missed and Itake back all the things I saidto make you feel like thatand Ijust wish that I didn't feellike there was something I missedand Itake back all the things I said to you_

_and I give it all awayjust to have somewhere to go togive it all awayto have someone to come home to_

_this is my Decemberthis is my time of the yearthis is my Decemberthis is all so clear_

_and I give it all awayjust to have somewhere to go togive it all awayto have someone to come home to_

By the time it was over, everyone stood up and cheered. My weird feeling disintegrated into sheer happiness and excitement. Sora was back. I was ready to apologize. Everyone at our tables was talking with cheer. I tried looking over the tall people to see where the guys went.

"That song was perfect for the moment!" Lissa yelled over all the noise. I nodded in agreement. Finally, Roxas, Cloud, and Riku appeared. I grabbed onto Riku's shoulders.

"Where's Sora!" I asked.

"He left!" Riku called back.

"Where'd he go?" I asked frantically.

"He just said he's going. That's it," Roxas said. My eyes went wide. Go where? I pushed through everyone. It was dark outside and kind of cold but I wasn't going to let it stop me from finding Sora. I started to run. To where, I didn't know.

"Sora!" I called. My voice rang through the chilly street. I couldn't run as fast as normal. '_Damn me for deciding to wear heals!_' I yelled in my head. My blue eyes looked around trying to find trace of the chocolate colored spikes upon Sora's head. I made it down the street and to the corner. I looked to my right. There he was, half way down the sidewalk.

"Sora!" I yelled running as fast as I could. He didn't stop but he seemed to walk at a slower pace when he heard his name. "Sora!" By the second time, he came to a stop. I was just a few feet away from him. Sora slowly turned around. Before he knew it, I had my arms around him with my face buried in his chest.

"Kairi," he said quietly. Sora ran his fingers through the back of my hair as I clenched my hands onto the front of his shirt. I didn't realize how much I missed him. I slowly pulled back and looked up into his spectacular ocean orbs.

"Sora, I'm so sorry," I said quietly. "I know why you took the news so hard. Everything makes sense now. I should have told you earlier."

"Kairi," Sora tried to speak. I held up my hand.

"Please, at least let me finish what I have to say," I asked politely. He nodded. "Shawn took my ring two weeks ago when I took off my jewelry to clean my hands after a sophomore sneezed into his hands before using my pencil. Shawn told me the only way I could get it back was if I went out on a date with him. He knew it'd be blackmail. I figured you'd be mad and I didn't want any controversy, so I kept it from you.

"Well on Sunday, I went on the date. However, Shawn caught Namine, Amanda, and Lissa following us. So we all went to a late lunch where I met three of his friends, along with Christy, Amber, Sarah, and Cindy. During the lunch, I remembered something about the day I moved here. I asked if Namine or Christy remembered. They told me about how Christy kept a date hidden from your knowledge. Now I know why you were hurt by me doing the same. She said she loved you and you loved her. I said I love you and I mean it. Sora, I'm sorry. I really am. I'll understand if you're still mad." I looked down. Without even realizing it, a crystalline tear started to make a pathway down my cheek.

"Look at me," Sora told me as he placed his fingers under my chin to direct my face toward his. Slowly my eyes were staring into his. He brushed away the tear-streaked path on my cheek with his thumb, gently. "I know everything that happened shouldn't have. But the thing is that it did."

"I know-" I was cut off by Sora raising an eyebrow as he placed his finger upon my lips.

"I gave you your time. Now it's your turn to listen." I nodded. He put both of his hands in his pockets. "I shouldn't have over reacted. I should have let you tell me what really was going on. Instead, I let my past get the best of me and ran away from the problem. Even though the time gone without you was treacherous, I think it was a great get away. It made me realize how important you are in my life. I love you more than anything. I can tell you anything without worrying if you'll judge me. You understand me like no one else. You're perfect, even with your faults. That's what attracts you to me over any other girl I've dated or known in the past."

"I feel the same," I replied with a small smile.

"Kairi, promise me, and mean it this time, if something's wrong, tell me," Sora said putting his hand on my petite shoulder. I nodded.

"I promise, from here on out, I'll be honest with you, no matter the situation," I said putting my hand where my heart was beating steadily. Sora pulled me into a grateful hug. He pulled away, placing his hands on my cheeks, so his fingers were through my auburn strands, his palms were held under my jaw and his thumbs were placed on my cheeks.

"I love you. No one will ever change how I feel about you," Sora said kissing my forehead.

"I love you too Sora." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he placed his arms around my waist. We kissed lightly. I suddenly felt at home once again. Not too long after, our friends' cars pulled up by us.

"Hey, there you two are," Wakka said from a different car.

"You guys sounded great back there," Lulu complimented.

"I didn't even know you went," I smiled.

"We heard about it, so we went," Wakka said. "We better go. See you two around. Later!" They drove off and our friends pulled forward. Josh was in Kyle's car this time.

"You guys were great," Yuna smiled. I smiled at her as Sora thanked her.

"Hey Tidus, why weren't you performing with the guys?" I decided to ask.

"If you don't mind, I think I'm going to drop the band but I'll cheer you guys on!" Tidus said.

"It's perfectly fine," I said smiling at him.

"Let's go home," Roxas called from my car. Sora got in the passenger seat while I got in the back with Alexa and Lissa. We dropped off everyone at their houses before the three of us drove home. Once we got there, we saw Jenna, Casey, Kyle, and Chris in the living room.

"Oh my gosh Kairi!" Jenna ran over and hugged me. "You all sounded wonderful!"

"Thanks Jenna," I laughed. "I want to introduce you to someone. Jenna, Casey, Kyle, Chris, this is my boyfriend, Sora."

"Oh! So this is the one you talked about all last year and when you moved to Star City," Casey smiled.

"Heh," Sora rubbed the back of his head and grinned. He looked at me. "You've talked about me a lot, huh?"

"Maybe." I put my hands behind my back and laughed. Sora put his arm around my shoulders. We all headed up the stairs to our rooms and the guys went to Cloud's house. Roxas helped Sora unpack while I talked to my friends about our concert. We were laughing and having a great time discussing what strange people we had here in Destiny City. Soon we ended up talking about our Spring Break.

"So are you guys going to Star City?" Casey asked.

"I'd love to," I smiled.

"You know where I really want to go?" Jenna suddenly exclaimed.

"Where?" Casey asked.

"Twilight Town. You know, that one really popular city a couple miles away from Star City," She said.

"That's where I lived before here," Roxas said from the doorway.

"What's it like there?" I asked curiously as he sat at the edge of my bed.

"It's really calm and laid back. Everyone's really nice, well some are, and just the town in general is great. Oh, and it has some of the best sunsets," he smiled. I could tell, by the way he was talking, he missed home.

"What are your friends like?"

"Hayner, he has an attitude but he's a great friend. Pence, he's the smarter one who's perspective on things is quite positive. Olette, she's the one who likes to get things done. She's one of the kindest people there," Roxas said.

"They seem really nice," Jenna smiled.

"I think we should go for our week of Spring Break," Casey said.

"You only have a week?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah."

"Oh, we have two. Okay, first week, we'll go to Twilight Town then for the second part of the second week, we'll stay in Star City," I suggested.

"Let's tell the guys," Jenna said standing up to go to my side window. We stood up and I opened up the window that faced Cloud's house. The guys were still up because the light was still on.

"How are we going to get their attention?" Roxas asked me.

"Uh, good question." We fell silent trying to think of a way. Kyle walked by the window when he stopped and saw us. He looked confused as he opened the window.

"Uh, what are you guys doing?" Chris asked who walked over to the window with Cloud.

"We're going to Twilight Town for Spring Break," Jenna told them.

"I thought we were going to Star City?" Cloud asked.

"We will later," I assured him.

"Kairi?" a voice from the doorway said. I turned around to see who it was. Everyone continued to talk to each other while I met up with Sora.

"Yeah?"

"Come here." He waved for me to follow him. We both walked into his room. Sora sat on his bed, so I sat next to him. He reached under his pillow and pulled out my blue diary. "Why is your old diary in my room?"

"Oh," I laughed lightly. "Read it. I want you to know me inside and out. Anything I haven't told you is in there."

"What about your recent one? That's more accurate."

"I'll show you at the end of it. Promise," I smiled.

"Okay," Sora smiled back. "Starting tonight, our relationship is going to be better than ever."

**A/N:** woot! Sora's back! Everyone's all happy again XD Next chapter is Christmas and the New Years. Wow, time has gone by so fast for them... hope you all liked this chapter! Next chapter will be up next weekend. Isn't it great that I'm on Spring Break so I can update 3 times in two weeks? Lol, can't wait to hear what you guys think!


	19. Christmas and 2007

**Whizcuz**- lol thanks a bunch!

**Axel**- lol, I agree Kingdom Hearts 2 totally rocks! And sadly, no, I haven't even beat Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts...

**A/N**: Thank you guys so much! You all don't even know how encouraged I am because of the awesome reviews I'm getting. I really do appreciate that you enjoy my story and all the good stuff. Sadly now that Spring Break is nearing an end, the updates will be every two weeks again. Well anyway, enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter 19**: Christmas and 2007

Christmas eve was here. Our friends had gone back to Star City. Usually Christmas doesn't make me feel any different but this year, I felt happier. I wasn't exactly sure why this year was different, but I had a feeling it had to do with everyone being together. I decided to take Sora somewhere.

"Where are we going?" he asked as the two of us packed a couple blankets, battery powered stereo, CD's, and hot coco into his truck.

"You'll see," I smiled.

"Kairi! Just tell me," Sora whined causing me to laugh.

"Sora, chill."

"I'm already chilled," he shivered. I handed him his jacket. Sora climbed into the passenger seat while I got into the drivers seat. I turned the radio on to holiday music as I started on our destination. Sora and I sang along for about fifteen minutes.

"I can't wait," I smiled to myself. Sora looked out the window as the city was being left behind. His gaze followed the city limit sign before looking back at me with a questioning look.

"Where in the world are you taking me?"

"Just go to sleep. I'll wake you up when we get there."

"How long until we get there?"

"About an hour," I said as I started to turn up the mountain side. Sora leaned his head against the cold window and started to day dream. Not too long after, he fell asleep.

The hour passed and had finally arrived. I lightly shook Sora. Slowly, reality hit him. We got out the battery powered stereo, our blankets, hot coco, and CD's from the back seat. It was definitely colder up here than in Destiny City. We walked a little bit until we reached a visitor view point with a bench over looking Destiny City and beyond.

"So this is that special place you wanted to take me." Sora smiled as we both sat on the bench. I put the stereo under it. Soft Christmas jingles filled the cold winters air.

"Yep. My friends told me about this place when they passed it on the way to Destiny City," I told him. He smiled as we cuddled to keep warm. The two of us looked around the area, listening and singing. An hour had passed, just filled with talking.

"Is it me or is it getting really cold?" Sora asked. I held him closer.

"It's getting really cold," I said. A small oddly shaped white flake fell in our vision.

"Huh?" Sora and I both looked up to see more falling onto us.

"So this is what snow is..." He smiled.

"It's a tropical island though..."

"We're at a higher elevation, which makes it very possible to snow," he explained wiping a snowflake off my nose.

"It's so pretty," I said gazing as it started to settle in the grass, leaving a sparkling remembrance. Not too long after, we experienced our first snowfall, we got in the car to go home.

"Thanks for taking me there," Sora said kissing my cheek once we pulled into the driveway. We got out, taking our things, and we went inside.

"They're back," Roxas said as he walked out of the living room. My mom walked out of the kitchen as Sora took the things upstairs.

"Want to help make gingerbread cookies?" my mom asked.

"Sure," I smiled. Roxas and me went into the kitchen. We got out the mix, flour, pans, and all the needed ingredients. Sora came in to help us.

"So who are we making these for?" Roxas asked noticing that we had enough mix to feed our school.

"All your friends, Elizabeth, and Uncle John," my mom said.

"That's a lot of cookies," Sora stated.

"How many are we giving?" I asked.

"Six for each family," my mom answered. We all thought for a minute.

"84 cookies," Sora finally said. My eyes widened.

"90 cookies," my mom corrected him.

"That's right; some for us," I grinned.

"No, what ever is left over is ours."

"Then who are the other six for?" Roxas asked curiously.

"The Johnson's," my mom smiled. Sora, Roxas, and I literally dropped our jaws open.

"You've got to be kidding..." I said in disbelief. "Why are we giving cookies to Shawn's family?"

"Kairi!" my mom said shocked. "The Johnson's are very sweet. They're great neighbors." She went to turn on the oven as we started to mix the ingredients.

"They may be a great family, but they sure do have a rotten apple," I said only loud enough for the guys to hear.

"What was that?" my mom asked. We all looked at her.

"Nothing," we replied in unison. She raised her eyebrow doubtfully and left the kitchen. The three of us stifled our laughter.

After making a couple batches of cookies, my mom sent Sora, Roxas, and I off to deliver our holiday treat. We decided to drop by Yuna's, Tidus's, Wakka's, and Lulu's houses. Their families were nice and Yuna's mom even gave us a wrapped present in return. The three of us arrived home, getting another batch. This time, we went to Selphie's, Irvine's, Josh's, and Lissa's houses. Our second to last trip was to Namine's, Riku's, Cloud's, and Amanda's houses.

"Okay, go visit Mrs. Conley first. After a short visit, go to Uncle John's house and then stop by the Johnson's. Don't stay out past nine you three," my mom told us as she handed us the last of the cookies.

"Got it," Sora nodded as we headed out once again. We got into the car and drove to visit Elizabeth. Once we got to the nursing center, we headed to her room.

"Elizabeth, it's Kairi, Sora, and Roxas. We brought you cookies," I said, knocking on the door.

"Come in dears," we heard her call from inside. I turned the knob and the boys and I entered. Mrs. Conley was on the couch talking with another resident.

"Merry Christmas Eve," Roxas said as Elizabeth stood up and he handed her the bag of cookies.

"Aw, you shouldn't have," Mrs. Conley smiled as she took the cookies. "Come here." She opened her arms and hugged us. "You three are really wonderful. Your family is wonderful."

"Thank you," I replied with a smile.

"This is my neighbor, Betty," she said introducing us to the elderly lady on the couch.

"Hello ma'am," Sora waved.

"Why hello young man," Betty smiled. "Ah, how I understand what Elizabeth meant by such beautiful kids." We smiled.

"These three are keeping me alive," Elizabeth laughed. "I wish I had kids like them. A beautiful daughter, such as Kairi here, and two handsome sons like Sora and Roxas."

"Well, you're apart of our family," Roxas said, causing Mrs. Conley to hug us again.

"Sorry that we can't stay, we have more cookies to deliver," I told Elizabeth. "It was good to meet you, Betty."

"Good to meet you too," Betty waved. The boys and I left the nursing center and headed over to Alexa's. As soon as I knocked on the door, I heard Fluffy bark from inside. Soon, the door opened.

"Kairi! Come in," Alexa smiled. "Mom! Sora, Roxas, and Kairi are here!" We walked inside the large house. Alexa's black lab barked happily.

"Oh, Kairi. Merry early Christmas!" Juli said hugging us.

"Here's some cookies we baked," I said handing her the batch of gingerbread cookies.

"Mmm, they look wonderful," my aunt smiled.

"Did someone say cookies?" my uncle John walked into the entryway. I laughed.

"Thanks kiddo." He ruffled my auburn colored hair.

"We better go because we have one last cookie round," I said.

"Have a great Christmas tomorrow. We may stop by to drop off presents," Juli said as Roxas opened the door. We nodded and said our goodbyes. Our last stop was to Shawn's house.

"Well, let's go," I said taking the cookies and getting out of the car. Sora and Roxas followed me up the sidewalk to the door. We rang the doorbell. Within seconds, the door opened up. Mrs. Johnson was smiling at us.

"Oh, Kairi, what brings you here?" she asked.

"Sora, Roxas, my mom, and I made cookies," I said handing her the bag.

"Aw, that's so generous. Please, come in."

"We have to get home before nine," Roxas said, pointing across the street.

"I'm sure Mrs. Hikari won't mind if you eat over tonight. It's only eight," Mrs. Johnson stepped aside and let us in. "I'll be right back. I'll call your mother." She walked into the living room.

"I never thought I'd step foot in this house again," Sora said taking a look around.

"Well, you saved me in the beginning of the school year," I reminded him.

"Huh?" Roxas asked completely confused.

"Well, Shawn-"

"Your mom said it's fine," Shawn's mom said walking into the entryway. "Dinner will be ready within seconds."

"Thanks for inviting us," Sora replied.

"Any friends of Shawn's and Amber's are welcome anytime," she smiled walking into the kitchen.

"Too bad we're not friends with Shawn," I said quietly, earning smirks from the guys. Amber walked down the stairs.

"Oh, woah, what are you three doing here?" she asked surprised.

"We're eating dinner here," Roxas said.

"Oh, cool," Amber smiled. The door opened behind us. Shawn walked in slowly once he spotted us.

"Um, what are you three doing in my house?" he asked suspiciously.

"We're eating over. Got a problem with it?" Sora glared. His hands tightened into fists. Shawn glared right back. Roxas, Amber, and I glanced at both of them anxiously.

"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Johnson called from the dining room. I pulled Sora into the room with me. Soon, we all met each other to eat dinner together. We enjoyed our pasta before we thanked the Johnson's and went home for the night.

Christmas morning, we woke up at eight. Just like little kids, Sora, Roxas, and I dived onto my parents bed to wake them up. After a couple times of bouncing around, they went downstairs with us. The three of us dove for the tree and tore the wrapping paper off the presents. The day was full of laughter and cheer. It felt great to act like a little kid again, specially considering this would be the last Christmas at home. For sure the best present was given to Roxas. His parents sent money to us and my parents bought him a car. Roxas sure was happy.

The week flew by right before our eyes. It was all ready Sunday, meaning it was New Years Eve. (**A/N**: btw, all the dates I mention in here, are the actual dates.). The family was getting ready to attend the New Years celebration at my Uncle's house. It was going to be a black and white party. I decided to wear a long, strapless white dress. Sora wore all black; a button up black dress shirt and black pants. Roxas was in black pants and a white button up shirt.

"Come on kids, let's go," my dad called from the hallway. All three of us came out at the same time. He smiled at us.

"Aw, you all look great," my mom smiled, who had just walked out of her room wearing a black dress, similar to mine, only black. Dad was wearing a black tux.

"So do you guys," I ginned at my parents. We all headed outside into my dad's car. We drove a few streets up to the party. Loads of cars were on their street. I knew my friends would already be at the party.

"They're here!" Selphie yelled as we walked inside. Our friends swarmed over to us.

"We're taking a group picture," Namine smiled as a photographer came up to us.

"Okay, get together," he said holding up his camera. We all managed to cram together. "Okay, say cheers!"

"Cheers!" We all grinned as a blinding light flashed us.

"Perfect. I'll make you all copies and give them to John," the photographer said.

"Thanks," I smiled as he walked off to take more pictures of the party. "Can you believe it's new years already?"

"No!" Tidus said.

"We're graduates of 2007. In a couple hours, it'll _be _2007!" Irvine said, we all shook our heads in disbelief.

"Uh, minor exception." Amanda pointed to herself.

"Aw, you'll be fine on your own next year," Sora told our junior friend.

"You'll still have us," Blake ginned, along with Alexa.

"Oh, just what she wants, two sophomores around to bug her!" Cloud joked, ruffling his younger brothers hair. Blake glared at him as he attempted to fix his blonde spiky hair.

"Kairi?" a females voice said from behind me. Our group turned to face the source.

"Mrs. Johnson? Mr. Johnson?" I said, completely stunned. I didn't know they were invited here.

"Aw, Kairi, Sora, Roxas, how was your Christmas?" Mrs. Johnson asked.

"Good," Roxas answered for us.

"That's good to hear," Mr. Johnson said. We nodded. I glanced around the living room.

"If you're looking for Shawn or Amber, they're at their friends house. They didn't want to be with a bunch of older people. I should call them up and tell them you kids are here," Mrs. Johnson reached into her purse.

"Oh! No need to interrupt their fun with their friends," I protested.

"She's right dear," Mr. Johnson said.

"Oh, alright. Well, you kids have a good New Years!" She waved at us as her and her husband went into another room.

"_That's _Shawn's parents?" Josh asked.

"Yeah," Sora answered.

"How does that work out? Parents and Amber equal nice. Shawn... well, we won't go there." Selphie crossed her arms. I smiled, along with the others.

"Kids!" This female voice I recognized.

I turned around. "Yeah mom?"

"Your father and I have to go out of town for two weeks," she told me.

"Are my parents too?" Cloud asked.

"Yes, they will be gone as well."

"Yes!" Cloud and Blake high-fived each other. We all laughed at the two.

"When are you leaving?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, around eight in the morning," she answered.

"Okay," I nodded.

"You three will be okay, right?" my mom eyed Sora, Roxas, and I.

"Mom, you've left me alone a few times last year. Besides, I've got the guys with me this time," I smiled.

"You're right. Okay, well, I'll see you kids around." She walked away, through the crowded house. Our group started to mingle around.

Mostly, this party was made up of people way older than us. They all had small wine glasses ready for the New Years champagne. People were even admiring the upstairs, as well as the downstairs. At least there weren't more teenagers here, or else the bedrooms would probably be occupied. I shivered that the thought. Midnight was growing closer.

"We're going to go visit people," Wakka said as him and Lulu left. Gradually, our group disappeared. Sora and I greeted a few familiar faced we knew.

"Oh, hey Sora!" A girl our age waved as Sora and I were about to head upstairs. "Hey Kairi!"

"Hey Shilo," Sora said. Shilo was a girl from school, who's parents worked in the same building as my parents. She was kind of a tomboy but still very pretty. She had emerald eyes and wavy dark brown hair that was just past her shoulders. Her and Sora were friends from middle school, so I trusted her.

"Hey Shy," I smiled. She grinned.

"Oh! Did you see the game the other day!" Shilo asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Sora laughed.

"I'm not much of a sports person. I'll be upstairs," I pointed. The two nodded and I made my way up the stairs. People were walking down the steps as I made my way into the open hall. I decided to walk into Alexa's room.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the pictures on her wall. A lot were of Blake and her, which was understandable. There were a couple of my friends, the rest were of hers. I smiled as I headed out onto her balcony. The sky was clear, making it perfect for the firework show in a couple minutes. I noticed there were people in the front yard.

"Okay everyone! This is it! Thirty...twenty-nine...twenty-eight..." They were starting to count down. More people were gathered out front. '_Where's Sora?_' I thought. I always wanted to be kissed on one, to start off my new years, just like in some romantic fairytale movie.

"Sixteen... fifteen...fourteen..."

"Come on Sora. Please come." I closed my eyes and whispered, "time's slipping away..."

"Seven...six...five..."

"Kairi!" Sora's voice said from the doorway of Alexa's room.

"Three...two..." He grabbed me, slightly dipped me and placed his lips on mine.

"One! Happy New years!" Cheers and noise makers were heard on the street below. The fireworks began. Reds, pinks, blues, greens, and all other colors illuminated the city below. Sora ran his fingers through my hair while I had my hand on his soft cheek. We pulled away to catch a glimpse of the firework show on the ocean before looking at each other again.

"I didn't think you were going to make it," I said quietly with a gentle smile.

"But I did. Happy New Year, Kai," Sora said softly.

"Happy New Year, Sora," I replied before we united in a kiss once more. I guess I really did get my fairytale moment after all.

**A/N**: aww, fluff! This chapter seemed shorter then the others. Grr on that! Well next chapter shall be the same length as always, or even longer. Heh, next chapter... **wow**, that's all I gotta say! You'll be shocked. Anywho, I've gotten loads of e-mails and IM's from people who love reading my story... yet they have never reviewed... hum... what's up with that? I do really appreciate all of you who _DO _review! You guys are the ones who keep me encouraged to update when I do. Welp, you guys know what to do know, so I wont say it. Thanks everyone!

Oh, btw, if you're looking for an ubberly cute Roxas x Namine fic, you should check out Notice My Existence by **KHobsessed-13**... There's only one chapter up right now, but I think it has great potential, and that's why you should read it!


	20. The Poisonous Kiss

**ChhoroiKurrin- **lol good to hear you liking this story! XD Well well, check that out! I updated : D

**TheOneWhichExistsNot**- I'm really glad to to hear that you enjoyed both stories so far! XD I try to make it as realistic as possible, yet not at the same time lol. I hope you like this chapter!

**A/N**: I love you all! XD

**Chapter 20**- The Poisonous Kiss

Not too long after midnight struck, my friends all ran into Alexa's room. We all gathered into a large group hug and wished each other Happy New Year. We all figured the way to start the New Year off on the good foot was to hang out together on Monday. After all, it was our last day until school started up again as well.

It was 7:30 when I woke up. I really only got five and a half hours of sleep, but I wanted to eat breakfast with my parents and see them off. After they left, I fell back asleep a little after eight, only to wake up at 10. Once I woke up my second time, I ran into Sora's room.

"Sora!" I yelled happily, jumping onto his bed. He grabbed the blankets over his head.

"I don't want to get up!" he mumbled. I sat next to him on my knees.

"Come on, we have to get ready. You can't spend your whole day sleeping," I said putting my hand on his stomach.

"Sleeping equals good," I heard him say. I laughed to myself.

"I'm going to wake Roxas up. By the time I get back, you better be up." I walked out of Sora's bedroom and down the hall to Roxas's bedroom. "Roxas, time to get up."

"Do I have to?" I heard the blonde complain from under his covers.

"Yeah, you do. We're meeting with everyone in an hour," I explained.

"I've got time." Roxas's hand waved from under the comforters.

"I can see how Sora and you are related." I rolled my eyes. Walking out of his room, I went to go get ready. After my shower and getting dressed, I saw Roxas head into the bathroom. I walked back into Sora's room. He still refused to get up. Roxas stood in the doorway with his toothbrush at hand and toothpaste in his mouth.

"Still not getting up?" he asked. I shook my head. Princess walked into Sora's room and right next to me. Roxas and I both smirked. I pulled my golden retriever on Sora's full sized bed. I put my hand on her wet black nose and then pointed to Sora, who was under the covers still sleeping. That was the sign to bark, which she did, right into his ear.

"Wah!" Sora jumped upright. Roxas and I busted up laughing while Princess wagged her tail excitedly and licked Sora's face.

"Oh my gosh, that was priceless!" Roxas laughed as he tried to hold the toothpaste from dripping out of his mouth. Sora glared as he got up.

"You know what?" Sora said crossing his arms and standing in front of his cousin.

"What?" Roxas's face grew serious and he crossed his arms. My stomach did a twist. It looked like they were ready to tackle each other.

"This!" Sora bolted past him and into the bathroom where he locked the door behind him.

"Oh, like that bugs me," Roxas said sarcastically. I walked into the hall and looked at the bathroom and then back at the blonde.

"Aren't all your things in there?" I asked. It took a second to sink in.

"Sora! Open the door! I called the first shower!" Roxas banged on the wooden door. It almost looked like he was a rabid dog with the foam from the toothpaste rimming his mouth.

"Too bad! I get all the hot water!" Sora laughed from inside.

"You can use my parent's bathroom," I told Roxas. He walked back into his room and came out into the hall with his toothbrush in his mouth, clothes in hand, and he walked past me to my parents room, all huffed up.

At eleven, everyone met up at the park a few blocks away. Thanks to Sora and Roxas we were a little late. Our group went to a fast food restaurant to eat lunch before we went back to the park to hang out and talk.

"Ugh. Tomorrow is going to suck," Riku sighed leaning against the swing set bar.

"Did you really have to bring that up?" Wakka asked.

"Let's just not think about it. We have to enjoy now," Yuna said. We all smiled. Out of the blue, my cell phone rang. The strange thing was the only people who usually call me were right in front of me.

"Hello?" I said into my phone.

"Kairi, meet me in front of my house, I need to talk to you. Make sure you bring everyone!" With that Shawn hung up the phone on me.

"Who was that?" Sora asked. I looked at the phone stunned.

"Shawn. He wants me to bring all of you guys, he needs to talk to me," I said looking at all of my friends feeling a little sick to my stomach.

"I wonder what it is…" Namine said as we made our way down the street to our houses. I looked next to me at Sora, who was smiling warmly at me. I smiled back, wrapping my arms around him as we walked. His warmth brought life into my soul. As our houses came into view, I noticed a lot of people in front of Shawn's house; everyone there we knew. The only people I didn't see were Amber and Christy.

"What's going on?" I heard Lissa say behind me. What _was_ going on? Shawn was on his porch leaning against one of the posts. He had his arms crossed and was glancing around the crowd that gathered in front of him. When he spotted us, he smirked.

"Oh there you are Kairi, can you please come up here?" Shawn said as we reached his house. I let go of Sora and looked around at everyone as I made my way up the porch, everyone's eyes were staring at me. It felt like they were borrowing a hole inside of me as I heard everyone whispering in wonderment. Shawn reached his hand toward me but I didn't take it.

"Okay, everyone quiet down!" Tyler said who was also standing on the porch. Everyone looked up at us. My friends were in the front looking at me concerned. I took a deep breath. My heartbeat was a little faster then normal.

"Thank you for coming," Shawn said. "I wanted to bring you guys here for a reason. See the problem is I like this one girl, but she seems to already have a boyfriend and she won't even give me a chance. I've even been nice to her. So since she won't even give me a shot, I'll force her to. Just to prove I'm a good guy." (**A/N**: How is that proving he's a good guy!) Everyone's faces went from wondering too completely stunned, along with mine. I knew he was talking about me. "So Kairi," he turned to me. "Will you go out with me?"

"Are you mentally ill! I'm going out with Sora. And you can't force me to break up with him!" I yelled as I tired to walk off the porch. There was a group of people holding me back as more people were starting to surround my friends so they couldn't get to me. "Let me go!" I screamed trying to wiggle free, but someone was holding onto my wrists behind my back which made me immobile.

"Kairi!" Sora yelled trying to run up to me, but was pulled back by a couple people from school. Soon everyone was holding me back from my friends and vise versa. They were all on Shawn's side. I couldn't believe it. '_Sora, just some advice. Watch out for my brother, he's going to try to take over the role as the king of the school. Watch all of the things you care for the most', _Amber's voice came into my head. She was right. Shawn did that exact thing. I fell to my knees. A single tear formed in my eye. If everyone was on his side, no one would help me get out of this mess.

"Let Kairi go!" Cloud yelled fiercely through the bodies surrounding him and the others. Shawn paid no attention to this.

"Well Kairi, it seems that you have no choice," Shawn said. I looked up at him with sadness swirling in my eyes.

"I don't have to go out with you," I said quietly. He just smirked at me.

"Really? Well I can change your mind," Shawn said looking at one of his strong friends holding my friends back. He let go and stood in front of Sora. Before I figured out what he was going to do, he punched Sora in the stomach causing Sora to fall to the ground. He didn't cry, he was too strong for that, but I knew he was hurt.

"Sora!" I screamed trying to run down to him, but I couldn't since people were holding me back. "Let me go! Sora!" I was crying now. The tears fell uncontrollably as I began to tremble. All my friends bent down to see if he was okay. I prayed that I was free from this horrible plan.

"Now what do you say?" Shawn said. I looked at him; tears pouring at a fast rate down my cheeks. "I'll end up hurting all of your friends if you don't give me a chance. That's all I'm asking for. One chance." I looked down at the blurred faces before us. I looked at how worried my friends were. I came upon Sora's face; he looked so hurt, not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. This really couldn't be happening.

"How long do I have to go out with you?" I asked quietly as silence fell around the large group of teenagers.

"For at least a month," he answered. I lowered my head in shame. How low could I get? But if it did mean protecting my friends, I would do it. As long as this fighting would stop, I would go along with it.

"I won't touch your friends if you go along with it. The rule of this little relationship is that you can still see your friends, considering we're all in the same class and Sora lives with you, but you can't hang out with them other then that," Shawn said. "If you go along with this you can't be seen talking to them, or I will do something about it. Everyone here is a witness and so they can help me keep an eye on you."

"Kairi, you don't _have _to do this!" Riku yelled to me. I looked at him.

"Yeah I do," I said. I looked up at Shawn. "If I do this and go the whole month, you will leave all of us alone and never bring this up?"

"Nope, it'll be like I was never here," he replied. I sighed in defeat.

"Okay but you have to also let me still rehearse with One Destiny, we're dedicated and we have to perform at school at the end of the month meaning you still have to let me go to practice with them," I brought up. He thought for a minute.

"Fine." I looked at my friends who looked disappointed too. It just made it even worse. I stood up. "Well what do you say?" I glanced over at Sora who looked completely hurt, but I think even more hurt then when he moved away last year. It killed me to look at him. I looked up at Shawn who was standing in front of me.

"Okay," I mumbled looking down at the wooden porch.

"What was that?" he asked slyly.

"Okay, I'll go out with you," I spoke clearly. He made me look at him.

"I was hoping so." He walked up to me and lifted my chin up with his hand and placed his lips on mine. It felt like poison burning through my veins. Tears crept down my face. I couldn't escape from him since I was being held back. When he pulled away, he smiled.

"Okay you can let her go. I'll see you at school Kairi." He walked in the house.

We all stood there in complete silence. Finally a few people started to leave, talking. The people holding me back finally let me go. I pulled my arms in front of me to look at them. They were bright red and looked like they were going to be slightly bruised, I put my hands gently on them. I looked at my friends who were helping Sora up off the ground. He looked up at me. The look of pain still traced him. I ran off the porch and to my house as the tears continued.

I got inside and ran up to my room slamming the door behind me, causing the framed pictures on my wall to rattle. I let myself fall onto my bed. I hugged my pillow tightly and I cried to myself. How could things go so perfect one second then go so horribly the next? This wasn't fair to anyone! I don't know why I agreed to it. I guess I did because my heart told me to protect my loved ones, but why did it end up _this _way?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I had no energy to get up but I knew I had to answer it. Slowly, I pushed myself up and slid off my bed and walked over to the door.

"Who is it?" I asked quietly.

"Kairi, it's me. Please open the door," I heard Sora's voice reply just as quietly as me from the other side. Placing my hand on the door handle, I turned it and opened to face my now 'ex' boyfriend. We both fell silent and stared at the ground.

"So..."

"Are you truly serious about dating Shawn?" Sora's voice was low and sober.

"Unfortunately," I replied looking up at the blue-eyed boy in front of me. His eyes met mine. "I want to protect you- us, from having to deal with him every again. This seems to be the only way…"

"That means we're not together any more huh?" he said sadly. I nodded with a frown.

"Yeah," I replied. Sora looked down. "Hey, but just because I'm going out with a complete lunatic, doesn't mean I don't love you with all I have. Sora, you'll always be my one and only."

"You'll always be my one and only too." Sora looked at me and grabbed my hands in his. He pulled me out into the hallway and made me lean against the wall. Carefully, he placed his lips upon mine. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Sora." I looked at our linked hands before slowly removing mine. "I think I'm going to go take a nap or something. I'm really out of it. Maybe it'll all go away by the time I wake up," I said in some what of a daze. I walked into my room, closing my door, and falling onto my bed once more. My eyelids grew heavy and soon I fell asleep as planned.

My alarm clock read 'six'. All the energy that was in me was now drained from my body. I sat up and sighed. '_Maybe a nice relaxing visit to the beach would do me some good_.' I stood up on my weak legs and got a jacket out of my closet before walking out of my bedroom, out into the hallway. Sora's bedroom door was closed and music was blasting from inside. I walked down the stairs into the living room where Princess wagged her tail happily. A walk with my dog seemed like a good idea, so I put on her leash and walked out into the chilly winter air.

Princess and I walked down the sidewalk. Luckily, it didn't seem like Shawn or any of the Johnson's were home, so I was able to walk by without having someone tag along. Getting this exercise was already making me feel a lot better.

We walked through the little pathway leading to the hidden beach. I loved the fact that hardly anyone knew about this beach. It was a nice little area too. Once we got there, I sat on the cool, soft sand and let Princess run around. I hugged my legs and watched the ocean waves crash onto the shore just a few feet in front of me.

How was I going to face everyone at school tomorrow? I can already tell that everyone will be talking about it for a while. Of all people, I had to now be dating Shawn! I felt like screaming my head off.

"Why!" I yelled furiously. "Someone save me from this mess!" I buried my face into my knees and sighed desperately.

"I would if there was a way," I heard someone say next to me. I looked over to see Cloud sitting down right beside me.

"Thanks," I replied. "How'd you know I was here?"

"I saw you walk by my house and I decided to check up on you," my blonde haired friend replied, staring out at the sunset. Princess ran over and started to nudge him with her nose. Finally, he got the hint and started pet her.

"This whole thing is a mess."

"A mess that needs to be solved. So, why exactly are you doing this anyway?"

"Because if I don't, then this whole conflict between us will never end. I just want our group to be able to enjoy the time we share together without having to worry if Shawn is going to ruin it... like today for instance," I said.

"Do you really think he's going to stop stalking you and trying to put up fights between us?" Cloud asked.

"I really do hope so..."

"And this will last a whole month?"

"Yeah."

"Good luck."

"I'll need to it keep my sanity." I looked over at one of my best friends. He looked at me and smiled.

"So what do you think life would be like if our parents never decided to move to Destiny City?" he randomly asked.

"Good question." We both looked out toward the ocean. "I wouldn't be dating Sora, you wouldn't be dating Namine. Our group would still be Jenna, Casey, Kyle, Chris, and Josh if he didn't move either. We wouldn't know Shawn. We wouldn't have gone to that party last year and almost get in trouble. We wouldn't have the friends we have now. Blake and Alexa wouldn't be dating. We wouldn't be neighbors, just live down the street from one another still. We wouldn't have gotten into that fight from last year. This whole mess wouldn't have happened."

"Let's just say our lives would be way different," Cloud summed it up.

"Very different," I added. Without warning, thoughts swarmed my head. My eyelids lowered as I glared out into the ocean. (**A/N**: These are, I guess you could say, memories from earlier in this story. I've already foreshadowed that Shawn and Kairi would be dating. Let's see if you guys can see that with these...)

"_Remember Kairi, I always get what I want," Shawn whispered really low in my ear._ (Ch. 3)

"_Just an offer," he said simply._

"_What do you mean 'just an offer'?" I asked suspiciously._

"_Okay, here's the deal. A ton of girls like me at school," he said. I crossed my arms, bored of the subject already. "I even have them fighting for me."_

"_Okay… the point of this is…?"_

"_Well, see the only reason I'm not going after all the girls is because of you," Shawn smiled taking my hands in his. "So Kairi, would you be my girlfriend?"_

"_Are you crazy?" I slapped his hands away from me. "I'm with Sora. It's going to stay that way!"_

"_Simple solution to that," he shrugged, still not very fazed by my answer._

"_That means?" I glared at him._

"_Break up with the loser." He seemed bored. Before I knew it, I lost my temper and slapped him across the face._

"_You bastard!" I yelled at him. He raised an eyebrow at me._

"_I'll come back for your answer later," he said walking way. I let out a very frustrated sigh._ (Ch. 8)

–

"_Hey Kairi, what's this?" Amanda pulled out a box labeled 'memories', the one I had shown Namine before homecoming last year._

"_Oh, that's a box I keep things in so I can go back every once in a while to look back on." I responded as she handed me the box. Amanda sat next to me on the bed as I opened it. I looked through the box with all my old memories, I was rummaging through when I spotted that soda tab that had an 'S' written on it, I pulled it out._

"_This brings back memories," I sighed. Amanda looked at me kind of with a worried expression._

"_Didn't you say that whatever letter you land on they could potentially be your future boyfriend or girlfriend?" she asked quietly._

"_Yeah…" I said still not catching on to what she was getting at._

"_Look at the letter Kai," she said holding it up._

"_Yeah an 'S'. So what it's Sora…" I said completely clueless._

"_No, no, no. Who else starts with an 'S' that we know of?" she asked. My mind was flipping through all the names I knew, it seemed to take a while before it clicked. My stomach dropped. I felt sick to my stomach. I gulped._

"_Shawn," I said as if someone knocked the air out of me. Amanda continued to look worried_.(Ch. 10)

–

"She was right." I said to myself, squeezing my eyes shut.

"What?" Cloud asked. My eyes slowly opened and I looked at him.

"Cloud." I said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I just realized Shawn has been planning this for a while now. I mean, remember, Amber warned Sora about Shawn taking away the things he cared about most. Shawn also told me he gets what he wants. He said he was going to get my answer about us dating later. That whole soda tab thing, Amanda practically predicted this." I grew quiet and said this to myself. "Sora and Roxas sang 'She Says'. The song fits."

"Kairi, what are you getting at?" Cloud asked, confused.

"All the things that Shawn has done was just growing to become this whole plan of him dating me!" I sighed angrily. "He knew he'd get me in the long run..."

"You really think so?"

"I know so." Cloud and I let the silence linger around us. Finally, I stretched and laid in the sand. Shutting my eyes tightly, I said through my teeth, "Cloud, I just want to die."

"Don't say that!" he hissed at me. I opened my eyes and looked at him. Cloud's bright blue eyes with green splashed middle, (**A/N**: His eyes are gorgeous in Advent Children! XD) were fierce and angry. I sat up and crossed my legs.

"I'm sorry. It's just I want this to be over," I said quietly, looking at my legs.

"We all want this to be over with, but it's only just started." Cloud stood up and held a hand out to me. "Come on, time to get home."

"Yeah." I took his hand and he pulled me up. We both dusted the sand off of us. Princess came over to me and I put her leash back on. "You better take a different route or something incase Shawn's home. If he sees us together, he'll know something is up."

"I drove here, so I'll just drive home. I'll see you tomorrow at school." Cloud hugged me before leaving through the path.

"Ready to go home Princess?" I asked my dog. She wagged her tail and we headed home. Once we got there, Roxas, and Sora were in the kitchen talking.

"Where have you been?" Roxas asked curiously.

"Was out walking Princess. I ended up going to the hidden beach and Cloud followed me," I told him.

"Are you hungry?" Sora asked. I nodded hearing my stomach growl.

"What are we having?" I asked.

"Ramen," the blonde answered. I smiled at the thought of how good that sounded. Sora and I sat down at the table after the food was ready. Roxas gave us a bowl each before sitting down himself. The three of us ate in silence, only hearing the clanking of the metal forks hitting against the ceramic bowls. As soon as we finished, we washed our bowls, and headed to our separate rooms.

By nine, I was still laying in bed, staring at the white ceiling. Precious was curled up on my stomach and moving up and down to my breathing pattern. Despite how tired I was, the sleep factor wasn't working for me. Slowly, I sat up, causing Precious to leap off me and onto the floor. She walked out of my room and headed down the hallway. Pulling the covers off me, I twisted over to the side and got up. My feet dragged as I, too, made my way down the hallway into Sora's bedroom.

_I know it's me_

_Who always leaves you stranded_

_We are always apart_

_I know you hate this_

_But please don't end it _

_There must be away_

_I wish I could stay_

Sora was laying on his back with his arms behind his head and his elbows tilting toward the ceiling. He must have heard me come in, since he glanced up at me when I entered the doorway. Sora sat up and motioned me to come into his room. He leaned against his wall, with the covers over his lower body and his arms on his bent knees as I leaned against the other wall.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"Nope," I replied looking down at my bent knees and my arms wrapped my legs.

_When I met you_

_I was barely living_

_I was lost in the dark_

_But with the love_

_That you've been giving _

_I'm back from the dead_

_With you in my head_

"What do you think tomorrow is going to be like?" Sora's voice entered my ear.

"Horrible. I can't even stand the thought of hanging out with Shawn for a whole month and not being able to be with the group," I said looking up at the gorgeous boy in front of me. The moonlight shined through his window and shadowed his face. His eyes had a sparkling glint in them.

"At least he had a point. I live here with you, so we'll still see each other every day. Most our group have the same classes so we'll see each other everyday in class, and band practice," he mentioned. "This is for the good of all of us. I'll still be here for you."

_(because) when I look in your eyes_

_I know you understand_

_That good things always_

_Seem to slip right through my hands_

_And everything but love_

_Is just grains of sand_

_But with you this is my life_

_Here with you this is my life_

_This is my life_

"You seem to be very optimistic about this," I said with a small smile.

"I learned how to cope with things... because this is something you would think," he said.

_All day long I'm ok_

_While I'm working_

_But it hits me at night_

_When every part of me_

_For you is hurting _

_I go through withdrawals_

_I love you that's all_

"You seem to know just what to say, Sora," I said. Sora smiled faintly before looking at his hands. I reached over and put my hand on his. He looked up at me again. I smiled. "Thanks for understanding."

_(because) when I look in your eyes_

_I know you understand_

_That good things always_

_Seem to slip right through my hands_

_And everything but love_

_Is just grains of sand_

_But with you this is my life_

_Here with you this is my life_

_This is my life_

"I love you," he said softly.

"I love you, too." We both leaned in for one last kiss.

_Why does it always_

_Have to be like this_

_Always desperateIn a goodbye kiss _

_Now I'm back from the dead_

_With you in my head_

After the kiss, I pushed myself up to get to the edge of the bed. I felt a warm hand grasp mine. Glancing at Sora, I smiled, as did he. We slowly pulled apart. I walked to the doorway, putting my right hand on the doorframe and looking back at him.

_(because) when I look in your eyes_

_I know you understand_

_That good things always_

_Seem to slip right through my hands_

_And everything but love_

_Is just grains of sand_

_But with you this is my life_

_Here with you this is my life_

_This is my life_

"Goodnight," I said in a whisper.

"Goodnight...Kairi," he replied in the same manner. I looked down with a sad smile and turned right down the hall for my bedroom.

**A/N**: So how was that? I bet that was unexpected, yet expected at the same time. I've had part of this chapter written since probably chapter 9 or 10. Lol, yep, I was totally prepared for this story to turn out like this. Pretty much the rest of this story and a lot of Dear Diary 3 is known to me, and I have some parts of different chapters written for each story XD. I'm ahead of the game! Anyway, 'nuff talking, review please! (_Song_: This Is My Life by Fefe Dobson)

News About Author: I got recommended by someone at my school to be a _staff_ member of the DHS Journalism team! I'm not 100 percent sure if I'll be accepted, but I thought I'd share something hardly anyone gets recommended for XD

**A/N (11/6/2010)****: **re-reading this story again (as I'm revising this), I must say that it was a pretty lame thing to do but hey, gotta do what you gotta do to flip the story lol thanks for enjoying it still!


	21. The New Beginning

**AUTHORS NOTE:**You guys don't even know how happy you all made me! _Chapter 20_ received 30 reviews! That's the most reviews I've gotten for **one **chapter! Thank you all so much guys! With just 2 more reviews I'll reach my 400 mark that I wanted by the end of my story, you guys are helping me achieve so much more!

**Axel**-yeah the main part of the group is 7 people but when everyone's together it's 17. Yeah, the school turned evil on everyone -shrugs- I had to have some conflict. If that ever happened in real life... well that'd just be plain stupid and wrong! Anywho, thanks for helping me reach 30 reviews!

**Flower Girl-** lol thanks for all the reviews in one. : P I would write back to all of them but that's a lot! lol, Make sure you update soon on your story! Oh and thanks for the skit thingy for chapter 19 : D

**ChoroiKurrin- **Yeah I know, horrible that Shawn and Kairi are dating but things will start to unravel about Shawn's past during this time and it's up to Kairi to help him :)things will get solved, don't worry lol. Thanks for reviewing!

**Hugefan**- woot! lol I'm glad to know I have another fan! Thank you so much!

**Naminefever**- I'm glad that you like my Sora x Kairi! That makes me happy that I got you to read it and appreciate it : D Thanks!

**Chapter 21**- A New Beginning

_Dear Diary, _

_Today is the day I face all who betrayed me. Sadly, I'm now dating Shawn. Who would have thought it? I was hoping it was a dream... yet all bad things are wished dreams and not realities. Sora, Roxas, and the gang are leaving in a minute for school. Shortly after, I'm to meet Shawn and Amber outside. It'll be weird hanging out with this new group. I guess he was right, I'd see his friends again. At least Sora understands why I did this - my friends and him. Maybe a month will go by faster than normal, but who really knows. I better go, school starts soon. _

_Love always, Kairi_

I closed the golden cover of my diary and carefully put it away in my bedside table. Sighing, I stood up from my bed and grabbed my bag. I walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs. Roxas and Sora were about to leave. Sora looked different- more hidden almost. He was wearing a black and gray zip-up jacket with the hood up. Parts of his chocolate spiked hair stuck out. It was quite attractive actually.

"I'll see you guys in class," I waved with a frown.

"Stay safe," Roxas called walking out the door.

"See you," Sora said, closing the front door, leaving me in silence. Princess walked downstairs. I opened the back sliding glass door, letting her run out. After, I grabbed my cell phone from the charger and left, locking the door. No one was around outside. It was way too quiet for my liking. Usually having my large group of friends, silence didn't exist. I made my way across the street to the Johnson's house. My hand turned into a fist to knock on the door, but the door opened before my knuckles reached the hard wood.

"Hey Kairi," Amber smiled. Her green eyes were clear in view due to her dark-brown hair being pulled back into a ponytail. The brunette walked out onto the porch.

"Let's go," the dark brown, spiky-haired boy said closing the door. Shawn, Amber, and I walked off the porch. I started to head for the sidewalk.

"Kairi, where are you going?" Amber asked, causing me to stop and look back at them.

"Um, school?" I answered puzzled. Both of the twins raised an eyebrow at me.

"Why are you going that way?" Shawn questioned.

"Aren't we walking?"

"Do you normally walk to school?" Amber laughed.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I don't know. We just normally do," I shrugged. "Always have."

"Well, we drive. Now hop in," Shawn said unlocking his car. We all got into the car and drove to Destiny High. Once we parked, the three of us headed toward the entrance. My stomach steadily grew pain at the thought of people's reactions who weren't involved yesterday.

"Shawn! Amber!" someone called as we headed up the stone steps. It ended up being Sarah and Cindy.

"I'll meet you by your locker," Shawn said as him and his sister went to talk to the girls. I took a deep breath and entered the double doors.

"Kairi! Kairi!" some recognizable voice called out to me through the hallway. My eyes directed toward the source of the voice. A girl with short raven black hair and dark brown eyes ran toward me.

"Hey there Yuffie. Long time-no talk," I said as she reached me.

"Is it true? You're really dating Shawn Johnson?" Yuffie asked, huffing from her run.

"Yeah, it is," I responded.

"Ew! Why!" she exclaimed with a disgusted look upon her face. '_There's good old Yuffie for you_.' I laughed.

"Trust me, it's not something I did willingly. If you see the group or pretty much anyone, they'll tell you the reason. I better get going though. I'll see you around Yuff."

"Bye Kai." Yuffie waved before heading the opposite way I was going. I headed to the second story to my locker. None of my friend were around, which was unusual. I opened my locker and started to get out my English binder.

"You know I hate you more now, right?" I heard Sarah say from behind me. I turned around.

"Oh, that bothers me so much," I replied sarcastically. "You liking me was my biggest concern." The red haired, blue-eyed girl crossed her arms. (**A/N**: Wow, I completely forgot Sarah was a redhead and I'm the one who created her! lol)

"How do you manage to get my guys?"

"Woah, woah, woah!" I said suddenly in defense. "One, Sora was never _your _guy! We were dating months before you showed up. Second, if Shawn really liked you, he'd date you. Third, I didn't _try _to steal anyone from someone, especially Shawn."

"You just gave me a great idea," a smirk formed on Josh's stepsister's face. Before I could ask her about it, she left.

"Weirdo," I said under my breath, returning my attention to my locker. After getting my English binder out, I headed to my classroom without waiting.

"So how's dating Shawn so far?" Tidus asked when I sat in my seat.

"Don't really know yet actually. We haven't talked too much," I relied. "Oh, the weirdest thing happened. Sarah -"

"Kairi? Why didn't you wait for me?" Shawn asked sitting in his seat.

"Sorry, slipped my mind." I acted innocently. Mrs. Davis walked in as soon as the bell rang.

"So how was everyone's Christmas and New Years?" she asked. A few people raised their hands to talk about their winter break. Our group remained in complete silence. After our discussion, we got prepared to study for our finals, which were next week. All our classes were like this up until lunch time. As soon as the bell rang, everyone headed for the lunchroom.

"So, um, what do you guys do during lunch?" I decided to ask Shawn.

"My group sits on the opposite side of the cafeteria from your group," Shawn said. We walked into the loud and fully populated room. "First I have to say something."

"Huh?" I asked confused. He grabbed a hold of my hand and we walked over to my normal table. Glares of pure hatred were given to Shawn as we neared.

"What do you want!" Selphie glared.

"To warn you," Shawn answered. I looked at him.

"What do you mean, 'warn us'?" Tidus crossed his arms.

"If any adults know about what happened yesterday, there will be a price to pay."

"What kind of price?" Cloud said.

"Let's just say you wouldn't want to hurt Kairi now, would you?" He smirked putting his arm around my shoulders. I was too shocked to move.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Sora yelled standing up on the other side of the table abruptly, causing his chair to fall backward. People near by looked over.

"Then no one knows, got it?" Silence fell around the table, along with questioning glances.

"Fine." Sora sat his chair upright and sat back down, sighing.

"Good. Well, we'll see you all next class." Shawn directed me through the crowd toward his table.

"Sheesh, what took you so long?" Tyler asked.

"Had to warn Kairi's friends. Well, I'm going to get food. Want anything?" He looked at me. I shook my head and looked down. Shawn walked off.

"What's up with you?" Lily asked, who was sitting across from me.

"You look awfully pale," Amber said.

"I'm fine, really..." I said quietly.

"Just say what's wrong," Lily said leaning in. I looked up at the girls by me.

"What's Shawn going to do to me if I tell or any of my friends tell?" I asked quietly. Amber and Lily sighed.

"My brother, I swear... ever since that day... he's changed," Amber said quietly, shaking her head and looking up.

"What day?"

"Um, don't really want to talk about it. At least not right now. Anyway, he won't do anything. He'd never hurt you purposely."

"He already did though," I said aggravated.

"Well, the story behind why he really did this is because he really-" Lily was cut off.

"What are you guys talking about?" Cindy asked sitting down. Sarah sat down next to her.

"Nosey much?" I said under my breath.

"What was that?" Sarah snapped back. I glared at her. She was really getting to a point of extreme annoyance.

"Back," Shawn said sitting next to me. "So how about tomorrow night, you spend the night at our house?"

"Uh, and where the heck would I stay? No way in heaven's name am I sleeping in your room," I said scooting back a little.

"You'd be staying in my room," Amber answered.

"Oh," I said bluntly. "It's a school night, my parents wouldn't go for it."

"Your parents are on a business trip. They won't know," Shawn replied. '_Damn, he's right_.' I thought.

"All right, fine." I crossed my arms.

"Sorry I'm late guys." We all looked up to see Christy. Her blonde hair was tied back and she was wearing a tight plain t-shirt and skinny jeans. She looked out of breath as she set down her books.

"Where were you?" Cindy asked her ex-best friend.

"Had to talk to my history teacher," the blonde replied with a smile. Soon everyone was interacting. '_Oh how badly I just want to disappear._' I thought as I sank into my chair.

"Can you drive me home as soon as possible?" I asked Shawn after school, as we headed toward the parking lot. Amber was going home with Christy, so that just left Shawn and me. "I need to change into my work uniform, talk to this close family friend at the nursing center and then get to work."

"Why don't I just take you those places? I have to look for a job anyway," Shawn suggested.

"Whatever," I replied hurrying to his car. As soon as we were buckled up, he headed toward our neighborhood.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Shawn randomly asked.

"Because you give me reason to be," I answered staring out the window.

"I'm trying to start a new and hopefully better relationship with you."

"By ripping my life away!" I glared. "Wow, that makes a lot of sense."

"Listen, give me a chance to show the real me. Please," he said. I looked at him with a small frown.

"I don't know." I looked away again. There was a long and dreadful silence home. He pulled up to my house. I got out of the car and headed inside the place I was most familiar with. It looked like no one was home. The boys were probably on their way to work. I went upstairs and changed into my work uniform. Once I let Princess inside, I went outside and got into Shawn's car.

"The nursing center?" he asked. I nodded and we headed over to see Elizabeth. We pulled into the parking lot. "Am I coming?"

"Only if you want," I answered getting out of the car and started to head inside. Shawn quickly followed. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked ahead with a clam expression. Once I got to Elizabeth's room, I knocked. It was silent for a bit before she answered.

"Oh Kairi, how are you?" Mrs. Conley asked hugging me.

"I'm okay," I replied after the hug. She looked at Shawn.

"And who would this be?" A pleasant smile was present upon her calm face.

"My name's Shawn." The dark brown haired boy shook the elderly lady's wrinkly, pale hand. "It's nice to meet you ma'am."

"Oh! This is the young man I've heard about. What a pleasure to meet you. My name is Elizabeth," she said letting us in.

"We came for a short visit. I'll tell Sora, tonight, to come visit you," I told her sitting down on the couch with Shawn.

"Why isn't Sora here?"

"Well, um, the thing is Shawn and I are dating," I explained.

"Is that right?" Her eyes looked at the two of us. She sat next to Shawn and put her hand on his. "Don't you keep those two apart, Shawn. You'd be destroying a beautiful thing. I know your intentions are not to hurt anyone and there must be a reason you and Kairi are dating. I'm not going to ask. Although, the reason for this is also holding you back from your own personal happiness."

"H-how did you know?" Shawn said in a whisper. I've never seen Shawn like this before. He looked so innocent that I actually started to feel some remorse for some odd reason. I put my hand on his other hand, causing him to look at me. I smiled faintly.

"She just does. She's always right too," I said. Shawn nodded slowly.

"I'll take that into consideration. Thank you," he said standing up. "Uh, I'll be in the car."

"Okay," I said quietly as Elizabeth and I watched him leave.

"He's a good boy, Kairi. Yes, I believe all the bad he's done, but his past is hurting him. Just be there for him and everything will eventually be solved. It may even take some tough love from everyone. You, Sora, Shawn, your friends, his friends, they're all in for some shock. I'm not sure what it may be but you'll figure out everyone's intentions," Elizabeth explained calmly. Everything felt like it slowed down as I tried to comprehend it. I couldn't understand how she knew all of it.

"I believe you. Thanks. I really needed someone to talk to." I hugged her. She laughed and patted my back gently.

"I'm always here for you, sweetie," Mrs. Conley smiled as I pulled away.

Standing up, we both headed to the door. "I'll tell Sora to stop by, like I said I would before. Thanks again." I waved and left down the hall toward the elevators. I walked to Shawn's car and got in.

"I like her," he said as we pulled away.

I looked straight ahead and smiled. "Yeah, me too." We didn't say anything until he pulled up in front of my job in Town Square.

"Call me when you're ready to go home," Shawn said as I closed the car door.

"All right," I said walking around the car and into 'The Wave'.

"Oh Kairi! You're here!" Yuna ran from the counter and hugged me.

"I do work today, right?" I laughed. The two of us went back to the counter.

"Of course." She laughed as well. "I was just wondering if you were going to show up because of Shawn."

"Well, I figured I'll be nice and see what happens. I'll see what he really wants from me, because I have a feeling it's not for the reasons we think."

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked. The doorbells rang. The two of us looked to see who entered the store.

"Kairi! We all miss you so much!" Amanda said running over to the counter. I laughed again.

"I'll be okay. Don't worry, I can handle this and as I sum it up, everyone will have to suffer a little," I told her. She nodded.

"I'm happy you're doing good, Kai," the junior grinned.

"Me too," I smiled. "So what can we do for you?"

"Well actually, I'm planning on finding a job and was wondering if you guys were hiring."

"Actually, my mom was just saying she was planning on hiring another person," Yuna said. "Mom!" A lady who looked identical to Yuna, except older, had green eyes, and slightly longer hair walked in from the backroom.

"Yes?" she smiled.

"I was looking for a job and was wondering if you were hiring," Amanda said.

"Would you like to come to the backroom for an interview right now?" My boss pointed behind her.

"Sure." The two disappeared behind the black curtain. Yuna and I, both, smiled. The day was pretty busy which made the night go by fast.

"So how was work?" Shawn asked as I got into his car at nine. I yawned and buckled up.

"Good. Amanda works with us now," I said leaning back into the seat.

"Well that's good," he smiled slightly.

"So how was your job search?" I decided to ask.

"It went well. I'm going in for my second interview at the café in Town Square tomorrow," he said.

"The Flowing Tree Café?" I asked. If he got the job that would mean I'd probably see him even more then I do now.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Oh... Cool," I said staring at all the cars driving by in the black night. Finally, we had made it home.

"Kairi! Can I talk to you?" Amber called from the front door of Shawn's house. I looked back at my house. The lights were on inside, so I knew that Sora and Roxas were home. I looked back at Shawn and Amber.

"Uh, all right," I walked inside. As soon as the door closed, Mrs. Johnson walked up to us.

"Kairi! Hello dear, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, you?" I replied.

"I'm good as well, thank you for asking." The phone started to ring in the other room.

"I'll get it," Shawn said walking into the living room.

"So where's Sora?" Mrs. Johnson asked me.

"Well, you see..." How was I going to just say 'Oh, your son broke us up and now I'm being forced to date him against my own free will.'?

"They broke up but are still great friends," Amber answered for me.

"Oh!" her mother said looking confused and surprised.

"Sorry mom, Kairi and I have to talk," Amber pulled me up the stairs and into her room.

"Oh, uh, hi Lily," I said to the redhead in Amber's room.

"Hey there," she waved back. I looked at the two girls right next to me.

"So what did you need to talk to me about?" I asked curiously.

"Remember how at lunch I was saying there was a story behind what Shawn was doing, before Cindy interrupted me?" Lily asked.

"Yeah..."

"He likes you a lot Kairi. Shawn really does, but he likes someone else more and he needs you to help him catch her attention. You can't talk to him about this though!" Amber said.

"Woah, wait a second here! So you're telling me that Shawn likes someone else more than me?" I was mixed between being shocked and slightly thrilled.

"Yes."

"Shawn's jealous of Sora's life. He wants to live a life like his," Lily added.

"Who's the girl?" I asked.

"Someone you know."

"Who!"

"Kairi, it's getting late," Shawn said walking into the room. I looked at him then at Lily and Amber. I knew they wouldn't tell me with Shawn here, so I sighed.

"Yeah, I'll go," I said.

"I'll walk you home." Shawn and I both walked outside into the cool, clear night. We walked across the street to my home.

"Well, thanks," I said at my doorstep. Knowing that there was more to Shawn then I knew ever before, it felt as if I had just met him all over again.

"Not a problem. I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed my cheek and left. I turned the doorknob and went inside.

"Oh, Kairi just got in. Would you like to speak to her? Okay, here she is." Sora handed me the phone. "It's your mom."

"Thanks," I said taking the phone and watching Sora walk up the stairs. "Hello?"

"Kairi! How are you, hunny?" my mom asked.

"Good mom. How's your trip?"

"Oh, just fine. How was your first day back?"

"You have no idea..."

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, never mind. I'll talk to you about it tomorrow or something. I'm really tired. I'll talk to you soon. I love you."

"Oh, okay. Love you too, dear. Take care. Goodbye." We both hung up the phone. I picked up Precious, who was snuggled up by me on the floor. I headed upstairs and into Sora's room where he had just finished changing into his long flannel pajama bottoms and no shirt. (**A/N**: xD -drools-). I couldn't help but stare.

"Hey," he said sitting on his bed. I snapped out of it and sat down next to him. Precious leaped out of my arms and snuggled against Sora.

"You have no idea what I found out from Amber and Lily today," I said. Sora looked at me interested.

**A/N**: finished chapter 21! So, what do you guys think? Oh, by the way, you won't find out who the mystery girl is for quite a number of chapters, but within the next few chapters, you'll find out about Shawn's past. Okay, ready to hear those reviews!

**News Flash:** I put the title page for What A Life and Dear Diary on my profile, check them out if you wanna! (personal note: I really did a better job with DD lol)


	22. A New Side

**A/N****: **I'm sorry it took so long! I really didn't mean it to take a month to update but it's been really hectic at school since finals were here and all. But I am out now! Summer is finally here to me! And to top it off, I'm going to be a senior in high school! -scary thought since I'm still 16- but it'll all be good. I won't have that 'I'll update every 2 weeks thing' because now I can update within two days if I'm really on a roll. Well no more waiting, read away!

**Chapter 22**- A New Side

"So he really likes someone else?" Sora said in slight shock.

"Yeah," I said nodding.

"And you have no idea who it could be?" Roxas asked, who had joined in the conversation not too long after I arrived home. I shook my head.

"All I know is that I know them."

"It could be Namine, Amanda, Selphie, Yuna, Lulu, Lissa, or even Alexa," Sora said. I glared.

"He's a jerk," I put it simply. The boys both agreed to what I had just said. "Oh yeah! I'm spending the night Wednesday at Shawn's."

"What!" Sora looked like he just had a heart attack. I sat on his bed and laid my head on his shoulder.

"Nothing will happen," I guaranteed him. I felt him sigh and nod, so I sat upright before standing up.

"Going to bed?" Roxas asked. I nodded.

"Night guys." I waved as I walked out of Sora's room to mine. Once I got into my room, I fell onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Just when we all thought we had Shawn figured out, new information gets thrown at us. What is Shawn's life happened to cause him to be like this?

I couldn't take thinking about Shawn and his problems much longer, so I got dressed into my pajamas and went to bed.

Wednesday came and I knew I had to spend the night at the Johnson's. After school, I got my things and walked downstairs. "You're leaving?" Sora asked. I nodded.

"What are you guys going to do today?" I asked.

"We're going to probably go eat dinner together and just hang out I suppose," he shrugged.

"Well, have fun."

"Yeah, you too." Sora put a leash on Princess' collar and opened the door for me.

"Thank you," I said, walking out of the house with my bag over my shoulder. The two of us walked side-by-side to the sidewalk where we both stopped and looked at each other.

"Well, see you around," Sora said without looking at me.

"Yeah," I said walking across the street to Shawn's house. As soon as I got there, Amber opened the door.

"I saw you through the window," she said. I nodded and walked inside. Ever since the beginning of this week, I haven't had much to say to anyone. "Shawn's not here. He'll be back in a little while."

"Where'd he go?" I asked as we made our way upstairs to Amber's room.

"Dunno, but Lily and Christy will be over soon," she replied sitting on her bed. I looked out the window and placed my bed on the floor. Amber got up and started organizing her desktop. I pulled out a picture of Sora and me out of my bag. It was from last year with Princess and Precious, the day after Christmas. Sora was in the big chair we have in our living room, while I was on the armrest. Princess had a big red bow around her neck and was on Sora's lap with her tongue hanging out. Precious was in my arms with a red bow on her head. I put the picture back in my bag. I crossed my arms and looked over at Amber.

"I'm going for a walk," I told Amber.

"Okay," she replied. I walked downstairs and out the door. I placed my hands behind my back started to walk down the sidewalk toward the beach. I looked up into the blue sky.

_Another night goes by without sleeping_

_Cause I know I won't wake up next to you_

_Another life goes by without dreaming_

_And I can't help but think that mine will too_

I sighed. I still couldn't believe I was going out with Shawn. He wasn't for me at all. Sora was the only one, he was the one who was perfect.

_I'm standing before you_

_With this label on my head_

_I'm pleading before you_

_For you to understand_

'_I miss him_.' I thought as I saw the beach come into view. I saw so many happy faces and so much laughter around me. Why couldn't I be one of them, why couldn't I be enjoying my life with my friends and laughing with everyone else?

_Baby it's you_

_When I look up in the sky I see you_

_Then I turn and close my eyes and it's you_

_When I'm sitting all alone in my room_

_Everything reminds me of you_

I leaned against a tree with my arms crossed and my head leaning against the tree trunk as I saw everyone swimming or having the time of their lives. I saw a golden retriever dog running around. It was Princess, my adorable dog. I looked over and saw Sora looking at the water a little off in the distance, away from everyone. He wasn't facing me but I knew he was sad.

_The time is slow and I am sinking_

_Into a hole, blackened with lies_

_In a way, I made it myself_

_You stand watching as my life passes me by_

_I'm standing before you_

_With this label on my head_

_I'm pleading before you_

_For you to understand_

_How much I adore you_

_I'll be there till the end_

_When everything falls down_

_Will you hold my hand?_

I wanted to call out to him so badly, but the chances of us getting caught were kind of big, seeing as everyone seemed to know about the deal. I started to humming to myself.

_Baby it's you_

_When I look up in the sky I see you_

_Then I turn and close my eyes and it's you_

_When I'm sitting all alone in my room_

_Everything reminds me of you_

"Kairi!" I heard someone say my name. "Where are you?"

"Shawn is waiting!" I heard another person say. I looked to see some of Shawn's friends looking around. I stayed in the same spot and looked back at Sora. I notice him looking at me. I stood up straight.

_Baby it's you_

_When I look up in the sky I see you_

_Then I turn and close my eyes and it's you_

_When I'm sitting all alone in my room_

_Everything reminds me of... you_

I sighed. Sora continued to look at me. Our friends started to walk down the beach toward him. They were calling out to him he turned to greet them. I lowered my head.

"I love you Sora," I whispered to myself. I slowly turned around and walked to meet up with everyone. I slowly walked out of the shading of the big palm tree and revealed myself to the people who were looking for me.

"Kairi! Where have you been?" Amber asked when I walked up to her. I looked back at where I was standing; there was a little opening. Right on the beach still standing there was my life. I looked back at everyone with a small smile on my face.

"Oh, I was just enjoying the view," I said calmly. Only I knew what the real meaning of my statement was.

"Well, let's go," Christy said. We started to walk down the street. I sighed knowing that my life was on hold once again. I took one last look before we turned the corner and into a small restaurant. Sitting at one table was Shawn, Sarah, Cindy, Tyler, and Jake, along with a few other people I could have cared less about.

"You're here," Shawn said scooting over to make room for me.

"Well I seemed to have had no choice since you were looking for me," I said sitting down next to him.

"So what are we going to do today?" Sarah asked, changing the subject.

"Kairi and I are going to hang out and it's up to you guys on what you want to do," Shawn said leaning back in his chair casually. The way he did that reminded me of Sora. I quickly shook my head from that thought and glared. Shawn raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh, uh, nothing," I smiled.

"Well, well, well, look who just got here?" Cindy pointed to the door. Go figure my friends would show up here to eat dinner as well. They spotted us too.

"Ignore them," Josh said looking away.

"Way ahead of you," Wakka said. They all went over to two different tables on the opposite side of the restaurant from us. In a way I thought it was rude, but we all had no choice. Everyone's attention soon switched to their rightful group.

"Jerks," Sarah said under her breath. I quickly snapped my attention over to her.

"Shut your face," I said glaring. Randomly, a smirk appeared on her face. "What are you smirking about?"

"I'll be right back." She stood up and walked over to my friends.

"What is that girl doing?" Lily asked as we watched her start talking to Sora. Hatred started to circulate through my body as I watched her start flirting up a storm with him. Eventually, she sat down and put her arm around Sora's neck. My hands tightened into fists as I watched this scene play out in front of me. Suddenly I felt a hand grasp mine. I looked up to see who's it belonged to.

"Don't worry, I'll go stop her from getting to Sora." Shawn stood up. I was surprised he even bothered protecting Sora. He walked over to where everyone else was at. No one seemed happy at all. I listened in with all I could.

"What are you doing here?" Riku asked Shawn.

"Just coming to get Sarah," Shawn crossed his arms. The redhead looked up at him innocently.

"What for?" she asked in a sweet voice.

Josh slammed his fist onto the table, causing some people to jump and everyone to switch their attention over to him. "Sarah, you should get home now. I'll tell mom and dad," he said angrily.

"You're not the boss of me Josh." She stuck her tongue out at her stepbrother. How immature of her to do that.

"Sarah, get up," Shawn said.

"Make me." Sarah clung onto Sora, who was trying to scoot away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sora asked.

"Sora," she whined pathetically. "Don't let him take me away. You know you still have feelings for me from last year."

"I never had feelings for you last year!" he said finally breaking free from her grip. They both stood up.

"Yes you did, don't deny it," Sarah giggled. I was so irritated by her. Right before our eyes, she pulled Sora into a kiss.

"That's it!" I said standing up and running over to them. Shawn pulled Sarah away from Sora, who was backing up wiping his lips.

"What the hell did you do that for!" Sora yelled.

"Who do you think you are!" I finally got over to her and pushed her. Sarah had a satisfied look on her face.

"What are you going to do about it?" she asked with that stupid evil grin of hers on her face again. My hands were getting sore from clenching my fists together so tight. I looked over at the table and saw Namine's sprite. Finally, I felt like I could reach redemption. I grabbed a hold of the glass and poured the drink all onto the girl I really despised most.

"That's what I'm going to do," I said with my satisfied smile and placing the glass back onto the table. The carbonated drink trickled down her red hair, face, clothes and finally the floor. She was completely stunned by my actions. Sarah seemed to be battling in her head what she wanted to say to me.

"I'm leaving!" she yelled. She ran out of the restaurant with Cindy close behind her.

"Way to go Kai!" Namine cheered. I smiled at her; she was always there to back me up. My other friends seemed to be proud of me as well. I looked over at Sora who was rubbing the back of his neck.

"That was a good one," he said putting his hands to his sides. I smiled and gave him a nod.

"Thanks," I replied. Among all of us, we grew an awkward silence. Shawn was the first one to break it.

"Well, I guess we'll be going," he said. Sora and everyone looked at Shawn and me.

"Thanks, Shawn." Sora held out his hand. I was surprised and I was sure everyone else was too. They never got along but for some reason as soon as Shawn takes me away, they're okay. I know it was only out of Sora's good nature. Shawn shook Sora's hand then put his arm around me and led me to the table where his friends were sitting.

Amanda quickly called out to me, "oh, Kai, we're going to practice this Friday for the concert at the end of the month." I quickly nodded at her.

Once Shawn and I took our seats, Christy said, "well that was odd and unexpected." We agreed. It only took an hour for us to be finished with our meal.

"So, where do you want to go?" Shawn asked as we stepped outside where it was cloudy and looked like it was about to rain. It was weird how the day was so bright and beautiful but it can turn so dark, yet still so beautiful, within hours. I looked up at sky and just thought for a second.

"I don't care. It's up to you," I said looking back at the dark brunet next to me. He nodded and we started to walk down the sidewalk. Our feet clamped lightly on the light gray concrete as we made our way past stores and the people of Destiny City. Water slowly dropped from the gray covers of the earth. It was a refreshing feeling.

"I love this weather. Even though it seems like it could really bum a person out, it's really a great relaxing feeling." the boy next to me finally said. I looked at him and smiled.

"That's exactly how I think of it too," I replied. Shawn glanced at me and laughed lightly.

"You're defiantly not a bad chick, Kai," he said. I put one hand on my hip and took the other hand and waved a finger at him.

"No, no, no, I'm not a chick, I'm a girl. Most of us refer to girls with preppie-ness in them as a 'chick'," I informed him with a small laugh myself. Shawn grinned and nodded.

"Okay, gotcha."

"Better." I stuck out my tongue which caused him to laugh again. A little boy with short light brown hair that looked about seven or eight, tugged at Shawn's shirt.

"Mister," he said in a soft voice. Shawn and I both looked at him. "Can you get my kite?" He pointed to the tree that was just a few feet in front of us. In the middle of branches, a blue kite was laying still. Shawn looked at me then at the little boy.

"Sure, I can." The three of us walked up to the tree. Once we got to the trunk, we realized that Shawn had to do some climbing. It was clear that I wasn't going to be able to lift him up to the first branch, but luckily there was a fire hydrant next to the tree. He put one foot on the top and then pushed himself onto the top branch. Using his muscles, he hoisted himself up so he was sitting and was able to look down at us.

"Be careful up there!" I said to him.

"Yeah, like I'm going to mess around up here," he said sarcastically. Slowly, he made his way up a little higher until he was near the kite. He reached out to the kite and was just a couple inches away from it when he realized he was stuck. "Um, my pants are stuck on some sharp bark."

"You can't move at all?" I asked him. Shawn looked down at me.

"Not unless I want my pants to rip," he said. I looked at the little boy.

"Stay right down here. I'm going to help him." I pointed up. The little boy nodded and I carefully got on top of the fire hydrant. With all I could, I pounced onto the tree and pulled myself up onto the first branch.

"Careful," I heard Shawn say above me.

"Don't worry. I got it," I reassured him. Quite gracefully, I was able to make my way up to where Shawn was stuck. I looked at where his pants were caught. Making sure I wouldn't rip them, I unattached him from the tree. Shawn sat down so he was next to me.

"Thanks," he said smiling.

"No problem." I smiled back. He reached over and grabbed the kite. I took the kite from him. "Here, I'll give it to him." Taking the kite by the tail, I lured it down past some branches and into the little boys arms.

"Thank you so much!" He clung onto his blue kite and ran down the sidewalk.

"He's a cute kid," Shawn said.

"Yeah he is," I replied. I looked down to see if there was an easy way down. Unfortunately for me, I leaned a little too far forward.

"Kairi!" I felt an arm wrap around my torso. My hands clenched the branch and he pulled me back upright. I put my hand to my chest.

"Wow, uh, thanks," I said, slightly out of breath. Shawn nodded.

"I didn't want to have to jump down after you, that'd put me in pain," he joked. I laughed and hit him in the arm.

"Oh thanks. I see my importance to you."

"Trust me, you're important to me. I know you can help me change for the better," Shawn said getting quiet. He looked down at the cold, wet sidewalk below. I tilted my head and examined him. Shawn really was a lot like Sora and by this new side of him, I could see why a lot of girls adored him. It all made sense to me.

"I can try. If that's what you want," I said putting my hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me.

"It's what I need."

"Okay, can do then," I smiled.

"Thanks Kairi."

"Well, you know that that's what friends are for."

"Yeah," he said looking down. "Well, let's head to my house. It's getting dark."

"Okay." We both managed to get out of the tree with no cuts. The rain was falling faster and was drenching us not too long after we climbed out of the tree.

"It's getting slightly cold, isn't it?" Shawn said rubbing his arms.

"Yeah, just a little," I replied doing the same. "And we have a little way to go until we get home."

"Here, I think you two need this more than me," a man said holding up an umbrella. He had just got a taxi and didn't seem to need it.

"Are you sure?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." The man handed it over to Shawn, who put it over the two of us.

"Thank you," I said smiling.

"Welcome," he smiled before getting into his taxi and driving away.

"That was nice of him."

"Yeah. It really was," Shawn nodded. The two of us walked down the sidewalk and down a number of streets. The rain didn't seem to be letting up at all. Just about a block away from our street, we saw a couple, probably in their twenties. The girl was dressed up in a pretty red dress and was all fancied up while the guy was dressed in a black tux.

"I thought you said it wasn't going to rain?" the girl said putting her bag over her head.

"It was fine earlier today," the man replied. Shawn and I looked at each other before approaching the dressed up couple.

"Here." Shawn handed them the umbrella.

"Oh, thank you so much," the girl smiled as the rain finally stopped pouring on them.

"You're welcome," I grinned.

"Come on, we're almost home!" Shawn tugged on my hand and we both ran down the street. We were both laughing the whole way until we arrived at Shawn's house.

"Jeez, you two took forever to get home," Amber said. Christy and Lily were in the living room.

"We were just caught up with things," I said.

"You two are drenched!" Mrs. Johnson said. She walked out of the room and came back with towels.

"Thank you," Shawn and I took a towel each and dried ourselves off.

"Dang, I just realized that I left my cell phone at my house," I said putting my hand in my pockets. "I'm going to go get it."

"Okay," Shawn said without looking at me and headed into the living room where the girls were watching a movie. I turned around and went outside. I ran across the street and into my house. It was really quiet.

"Anyone home?" I called.

"Kairi?" I heard Sora's voice call from the den. I walked through the living room and into the room he was in.

"Where's Roxas?" I decided to ask.

"He's upstairs doing whatever. What are you doing home? And why are you all wet?" Sora asked.

"I left my cell phone here and Shawn and I walked home from the restaurant," I answered.

"Oh," he replied looking at the computer screen. I looked at him, expecting to hear him say something else, but when he didn't I went upstairs to my room. I grabbed my cell, which was on the bedside table next to my bed when I noticed Precious laying on my pillow. I sat down next to her and stroked her long white fur.

"Sometimes I wish I were a cat so I wouldn't have to deal with all this," I said to her. She purred in reply.

"Kai?" Sora suddenly appeared in my doorway. I looked up at him.

"Hum?"

"Oh, just letting you know my parents are coming in March to visit us."

"That's exciting," I smiled. He smiled back and sat down next to me.

"So how's dating Shawn?"

"It's not too bad I suppose. He's really nice when you get to know him., I said with my hands in my lap. "But what really surprised me was when you two were nice to each other today at the restaurant."

"Oh, that. Well, I don't know. You can't always be mean," Sora said. I hugged him.

"That's why I love you," I said burring my face in his shoulder. "You're such a good-hearted person."

"I love you too, Kai," he replied stroking my wet hair. There was a knock downstairs which caused us to break apart. The two of us got up and headed down the stairs. I opened the door to reveal Amber.

"What's taking so long?" she asked.

"Sorry, Sora had to tell me about his parents coming to visit in a couple months," I explained.

"Oh, well we should get going. We do need to be in bed by 10 but we want to play a couple games before," Amber said.

"Okay." I turned to Sora who was frowning slightly. I could see by the look in his eyes that he was feeling slightly lonely, which caused me to feel slightly emotional.

"Have fun. I'll see you in class tomorrow," Sora said. I nodded.

"Thanks and okay. Goodnight," I said waving as Amber started to head down the sidewalk.

"Night," he said waving and slowly closing the door. I stood there with the wooden door in my face. Slowly, I turned around and headed down the rainy sidewalk behind Amber.

"Are you hungry?" Amber said looking back at me.

"Not really," I replied. Amber nodded then turned around. The one thing I really loved the most about the rain is if you're crying, no one can see you're tears.

**A/N**: Yeah, I know, not the best chapter... but I wanted to show you Shawn's other side. The next chapter will reveal Shawn's past and what caused him to be a jerk. Thank you all who reviewed and understood that I've been busy! Reviews would be fantastic! Oh by the way, there will be between 30-32 chapters of this whole story.


	23. Missed Memories

**A/N: **Sorry! Jeez, I feel bad that I'm like neglecting my story here! I keep having you readers wait and wait. I've just been busy due to my boyfriend/best friend (he was my best friend for 3 years and then we started dating a month ago), family and trips and all. I'm really working on my spare time to get somewhere with this story. Sorry it took a while longer then expected to update! Well, no more waiting to see why Shawn's the way he is.

**Chapter 23**- Missed Memories

A week went by since I went to Shawn's house to spend the night. Christy and Lily spent the night as well. It was fun in general up until Christy and Shawn got into an argument that I still don't know the reason of cause. After school, I headed to work.

"Weekend! Weekend!" Amanda chanted as we entered The Wave with Yuna.

"Not until our shift is over is when we get to start our weekend," Yuna pointed out, causing our younger companion to frown. I patted her back as we walked into the back room to put out things down.

"It's okay, we'll have a blast working today. It'll have surprises. I can feel it," I grinned, cheering up the other two.

"Well, let's get started then," Yuna said running through the black curtain to the store. Amanda and I ran after her to get started.

A little after an hour or so of working, not a lot happened. It was actually quite boring. A number of people came into the shop, but it wasn't out of the ordinary. Amanda was working in the back, Yuna was arranging clothes on the racks, and I was at the counter, reading a magazine.

"You guys!" a voice traveled through the open door. Amanda came from the back; Yuna and I looked up. Namine and Selphie ran up to the counter.

"What's up?" I asked putting the magazine down.

"We got jobs!" Namine smiled.

"Where?" Yuna asked full of interest. They both pointed out the window toward the beige and light pink building across the street with trees that blossomed in the spring.

"The Flowering Tree Café," Selphie clapped.

"How exciting," Amanda smiled widely.

"Congrats," I laughed.

"Thanks!" they replied in unison. Not too long after they showed up, they left to tell their parents. People continued coming and leaving as always. The three of us grew bored again. The store became quiet as the day drew to an end. It was seven when I heard the door bells jingle.

"Welcome to The Wave," I greeted whomever it was that was entering the store, without looking up.

"Hey girls," a familiar voice said. I looked up to see Shawn's face smiling.

"Oh, uh, hi..." I replied. He walked over to the counter and rested his elbows on them.

"How's it going?" he asked us.

"Nothing really. Just working," I answered.

"Uh, not to be rude, but this isn't the time to be socializing, Shawn," Yuna said.

"I just wanted to quickly sharing something,." Shawn told her. "I got a job at The Flowering Tree Café." Silence fell immediately. Amanda walked over and leaned in toward me.

"Well, you were right about one thing; we would have surprises," she whispered in my ear. I glanced back at her then at Shawn.

"You do know that Selphie and Namine just got jobs there too, right?" I asked.

"That should be interesting then," he answered looking at his watch. "Well, I better go. I'll see you later Kai." Shawn waved before walking out of the store. I shook my head.

"Yeah, it should be interesting..." I replied under my breath knowing exactly how Selphie and Namine would take it.

—

"WHAT!" Namine's voice shrieked through the phone, causing me to quickly pull it away from my ear and rubbing it. I slowly put it back to my head.

"Yeah, he's really going to start working with you and Selph," I said calmly.

"No," she pouted. "I wanted a job where no stupid people would be."

"It happens," I replied casually. I heard commotion down stairs, along with Princess barking. Looking at my clock, I saw that it was 9:30. "Hey, I got to go. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, sure," Nam said, still depressed about the news of working with Shawn. "Later, Kai."

"Bye Nam," I said before hanging up. Princess was still barking downstairs, so I decided to see what the boys were doing. As I walked down the stairs, I heard two voices I hadn't really heard in a while.

"Ah, it's good to be home," my mom said.

"Down Princess. Calm down," my dad's voice was heard.

"I'll get her," Sora said. I ran down the stairs quickly after recognizing them.

"Mom! Dad! I'm glad you're home!" I ran over to hug them both. My mom laughed.

"I didn't think you'd miss us that much."

"Well, let's just say that it's nice to have some normality back to this house," I replied.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" my dad asked.

"Just a little chaotic at school, that's all," Roxas answered. Sora and I quickly looked at him then Roxas remembered no adult was supposed to be aware of Shawn making me date him. "Well, you know, with finals finally ending and all."

"Oh, well, I'm sure you three will do fine," my mom said running her fingers through my hair as she walked upstairs.

"You three are smart kids. We know you'll make the right choices." My dad put one hand on Sora's shoulder and Roxas's shoulder before following my mom. The three of us looked at each other.

"If only they knew the whole story," Sora said walking into the living room and sitting on the couch. Roxas followed his lead but sat in the lazy boy. They turned on the television and got caught up in some action movie. I walked back upstairs and into my room. I changed into my pajamas before walking over to where my diary was when I saw Cloud sitting by his open window.

"What is he doing?" I thought out loud as I opened my window. He glanced up and smiled.

"I thought you were never going to see me," Cloud called out to me. I sat on my windowsill.

"Well, you should have called me."

"Saving minutes."

"Dork."

"I know," he laughed. "Anyway, guess what."

"What?" I smiled.

"I got a job!"

"Jeez, everyone's getting news that they got hired suddenly," I laughed. "Where are you working?"

"Uh, you know Venturous Motorcycle Shop?" he asked. I nodded. "Well I work there now."

"How cool," I grinned. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Cloud nodded. "Well, I better go. I'll talk to you later though."

"Alrighty. Bye," I waved, as did he, before we both closed our windows. I got out my diary and a pen before laying on my bed. I wrote an entry before I watched TV and falling asleep.

The next morning, around noon, I walked over to Shawn's house, with my notebook in hand to work on the yearbook. The sky was clear and bright, which was nice for a day in January. Birds flew over the rooftops and the tall trees of our neighborhood; calling out to each other. A few elementary-aged children and younger, were playing happily with each other out front of their homes. I came to the front door of the Johnson's and knocked. A few seconds later the door opened up.

"Hey, my brother's up in his room," Amber said. She was holding a glass of water as she passed into the living room and put the phone to her ear to carry on a conversation which I had obviously interrupted. I walked into the warm house and up the stairs to Sora's old room.

"Hi," I said as I walked into Shawn's bedroom.

"Oh, hey." He was sitting on the carpeted floor looking through numerous pictures that were taken of kids from school. I sat down next to him and placed my notebook beside me.

"How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Just looking to see what pictures should go where and all."

"Oh, that sounds pretty fun, I guess."

"Psh, sure," he laughed lightly. I smiled and opened up my notebook that had some pictures from school as well. The first picture was my favorite one of all my friends and me on New Year's Eve at the party. I held it up and smiled. "When was that?"

"This was at my aunt and uncle's house for a New Year's party," I grinned, reminiscing that night. "I saw your mom and dad there."

"Oh." Shawn fell silent for a bit. "Yeah, I think I remember them telling me that they saw you."

"Yeah, your mom was going to call you but I figured you wanted to spend it with you're friends and all."

"Yeah, it was fun." We fell into a silence. The only thing that was heard was us flipping from picture to picture. "Hey, I have a random question and I don't know why this popped into my head, so don't ask where it came from."

"Okay... go for it," I told him.

"Why don't you like the nickname, 'baby girl'?" Shawn's green eyes looked into mine. The same green color as the person who made me hate that nickname. My stomach did a twist and it felt like someone was just trying to rip away my organs. I swallowed, and swallowed hard.

**Flashback **

_"My baby girl," he said to me, smiling. I hugged him tight. He was the only one who I ever considered dating, trying to forget Sora back in Destiny City. Sora probably had forgotten all about me and moved on; not like we were ever anything more then just friends. We were both in our Sophomore year and have known each other for a year, but it seemed like forever. _

"_My nickname, right?" I asked, looking up into his dark sea green eyes. A smirk planted its way onto this face. _

"_Forever and always," he said kissing my forehead. _

"_Promise?"_

"_Promise."_

"_That's good to know," I said putting my head on his strong chest. All my friends were quite suspicious of this boy whom I had suddenly fell hard for, especially Cloud. _'He's no good for you. You can do so much better then that Kai. I know him. He's bad news.'_ Cloud's voice played in my head. _

"_Hey Kai," Jenna smiled, pulling her blonde hair back from her face. "Where's your lover boy?" I laughed slightly._

"_Ha, ha, ha. Funny. Truthfully, I really don't know," I answered looking for him_.

"_Well, let's go look for him, I guess." Jenna linked her arm with mine. We both started joking around and laughing about pointless things as always when we were together. I heard an awfully girly laugh come from around the corner of the busy sidewalk of Star City. I don't know why but it stood out so much more the all the other people chatting around us. I came to a complete stop once around the corner. _

"_Huh?"_

"_What is it?" Jen asked looking at me. I ignored her question and looked at a sight I didn't want to see or even thought I would ever see. There _he _was, _my _boyfriend, leaning over a girl who had her back to the wall and was laughing. He was smirking as he placed his right hand on the wall behind her to balance himself, while he put his left hand on her cheek. _

"_What are you laughing at, baby girl?" he asked in that flirtatious voice he used to charm me into liking him. _

"_You being silly, that's all," the girl giggled. My heart felt like it was being ripped at the seams. _

"_Oh, Kairi," Jenna's voice said into my ear as I felt like I was going to cry. Cloud was right. He _was _bad news. _

"_I-I-I thought it was only my nickname," I said quietly as I turned around and ran. Jenna wasn't far behind me, calling my name. "He promised me..." _

**End of Flashback**

"Uh, I just don't," I finally answered, realizing that I left us in an awkward silence. The past never really bothered me once Sora came into the picture. I never mentioned my ex to anyone, not even Sora. I guess I really wanted to put it in the past so I wouldn't have to hurt anymore. Cloud never mentioned him after we moved. He figured it was time to start a new life and he was right about that.

"Okay..." Shawn dropped the subject which I was quite grateful for. The two of us started to organize the pictures into the way we wanted them to appear in the yearbook. However, before I even realized how it happened, we were arguing.

"No Shawn!" I sighed with frustration. "Baby pictures for the seniors should go after the senior class pages, not at the end of the yearbook."

"Kairi! We have more important things that need to be in the beginning of the yearbook," he replied in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"Parents wanted these pictures in their kids' yearbook. It'd make more sense to put it after our class."

"No, put them in the back."

"The front."

"The back."

"The front!"

"No! The back of the freaking yearbook!" he yelled back at me. I crossed my arms and glared.

"Forget it, I'm going downstairs for a bit until you finally decide to make up your mind," I said getting up and walking out of the bedroom.

"I've _already _made up my mind!" Shawn called after me.

"Whatever," I said under my breath as I made my way down the stairs. In the living room, Amber was sitting on the couch, curled up in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate. She glanced at me and scooted over to make room.

"Where's Shawn?" she asked as I sat down beside her.

"Upstairs. We got into a minor disagreement," I said crossing my arms and stared at the TV.

"Oh..." Amber said looking back at the TV. We sat in silence for a bit. After about ten minutes, she said, "I'll be right back. I need my binder for school."

"I'll get it," I said sitting up.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded. "All right, thanks. It's on my bed."

"Okay." I got up and headed out of the living room to the stairs. I knew I had to pass Shawn's room and I knew he more then likely wasn't going to give up on where the baby picture section was going to be.

"Kairi, can I talk to you?" Shawn said as I walked by his room to Amber's room.

"What about?" I asked walking into his room. He was sitting on his bed looking through his pictures. I sat on his bed next to him looking at the pictures too. "Who's that?" I pointed to this handsome man and a very pretty woman standing close to each other. They seemed really caring and loving.

"That's my mom and dad," he whispered. I looked up at him, shocked.

"Wait? Then who are these people your living with now?" I asked confused.

"That's Amber's and mines' foster care parents." He looked up at me. "Today's the ten year anniversary since they passed away."

"What happened to them?" I asked quietly.

"Well when Amber and I were eight, we decided to go for a walk without permission. We crossed a busy intersection. My dad was working but my mom was home. We heard our mom calling for us…."

**Flashback** (Shawn's POV)

_"Come on Amber, let's go exploring," I told my sister._

_"But Shawn we're not supposed to leave without mommy's permission," she said looking behind at the busy highway we just made across._

_"Don't worry, we'll be home before mom knows," I said reassuringly. She smiled at me._

_"Let's go!" She started to pull me down the street._

_"Shawn! Amber!" We heard mom calling out. "Where are my children! Kids!" she cried out. We turned around._

_"Mom, we're right here!" We waved from the busy streets. She looked at us full of fear._

_"Kid's stay right there! I'm coming to get you." She started to cross the street. She didn't even notice that there was a semi coming right at her. She kept her eyes on us._

_"Mom! NO!" I cried out to get her to stop._

_"MOMMY LOOK OUT!" Amber screamed. Mom looked to her left and quickly looked at us._

_"I love you!" she said to us and the Semi hit her right before our eyes._

**End of Flashback**

"I'll never forget the look on her face," Shawn whispered. I saw tears in his eyes. I felt so bad. Pang of guilt hit me. I never knew about this. They never showed signs of their real parents being dead. I looked down at the picture again.

"What happened to your dad?" I asked.

"My dad always had heart problems. He died of a heart attack from the news the next day," I heard Amber say from the doorway. I looked up at her. She was crying too.

"I'm so sorry you guys." I opened my arms for her to come. I hugged them both; even though I hated Shawn for forcing me to be his girlfriend, I just couldn't help but feel sorry for these two.

"We really do like our foster parents. They're great and they treat us like we were their own kids, but I always miss my real parents," Amber said wiping a tear that had fallen from her eye. I looked at her sorrowfully.

"How come you guys have the same last name as the Johnson's and not your real last name?" I decided to ask.

"Coincidentally, they ended up having the same last name as us," Shawn explained. It was quite unique to have someone adopt you with the same last name. I glanced down at the picture in his hands. Mrs. Johnson was a slim, beautiful brunette with memorizing green eyes. Mr. Johnson was a tall, handsome dark-haired man with brown eyes. When I looked at Amber and Shawn, I really saw the comparison. When I looked at Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, our neighbors, I really didn't see any comparison, but I never would have guessed.

"How come you don't live with your grandparents or any of your aunts or uncles?" I asked them. I was hoping I wasn't pestering them with so many questions, but I was just so curious to their lives now.

"Both of our parents were only children," Amber said. "So we have no uncles or aunts."

"Our grandparents both disapproved of our parents being together, so they didn't want anything to do with my parents when they were married," Shawn answered my other question. "I don't even think our grandparents know about us."

"That's so sad," I said quietly. They both just looked at me.

"I can't believe they're adopted..." Selphie said quietly. Everyone was at the park. Selphie, Amanda, Namine, and I were on the swings. Lissa, Yuna, Lulu, and Alexa were sitting under the tree with Tidus, Blake, and Josh. Sora, Riku, Cloud, Roxas, and Wakka were all in their own spots near the rest of us.

"That's a real shame," Lulu shook her head. Yuna put her hand to her mouth.

"I never would have guessed," she said in shock.

"Now I feel kind of guilty for being so mean to him," Riku said calmly.

"But he did put himself into this mess," Cloud pointed out. "Even though it is really depressing, he didn't need to become a jerk to get over it."

"That's a good point, but still," Tidus stood up.

"Maybe we should be nicer to him?" Lissa asked looking up from her drawing pad.

"I don't know. He did make Kairi date him after all," Amanda said swinging a little higher.

"But he isn't as bad as we all thought. He's actually pretty nice," I said starting to swing lightly.

"Still," Sora said standing behind me and giving me a little push. "He caused you to stop seeing us."

"He may be putting on an act. Who knows what his real side is," Roxas said with a shrug.

"Shawn could be nice but I still won't trust him fully ever again," Namine said. "It was messed up that he made you and Sora break up." I glanced over my shoulder to see Sora right behind me looking down at the grass. I bit my lip and sighed.

"You're right," I nodded. It fell silent except for the light breeze rushing through the tree tops and the links of the swing rubbing against each other.

"Okay, let's get off of this subject," Wakka said. "What are we going to do for the next concert?"

"When is it?" Cloud asked.

"Isn't it Friday the 26th?" Riku asked. Wakka nodded.

"Okay, what songs do you guys want to sing?" Sora asked. Roxas, Cloud, Namine, Amanda, Riku, Sora, and I thought for a bit of what songs we could even sing for the end of the month concert.

"I Hate Every Beautiful Day by Sugarcult," I said.

"Here By Me by Three Doors Down," Namine grinned.

"Letters To You by Finch," Cloud nodded.

"That's good for now. We can think of others later on," Roxas said. We all agreed. The sixteen of us sat around at the park until it got dark before we headed home.

**A/N**: Yeah, short chapter -hides behind tree- Please don't kill me! Next chapter should be a very interesting one and I know many of you will be shocked and probably really hate me. Sorry for that in advance. So yeah, I guess now you all have something more to wonder... what's up with Kairi's past? Yeah, decided to sneak some of her past in there to make you guys wonder who gave her the nickname 'baby girl'. XD please review!


	24. Something Unforseen

**A/N****: **faster update, huh? xD

**Chapter 24**- Something Unforeseen

The next Friday was here; another week had gone by. This year was going ridiculously fast. In some ways it was good that our Senior year was flying by but in a way it was saddening. I had already suffered two weeks with Shawn and it just seemed to be going really slow. January was almost over though, so it'd be ending soon.

I didn't understand how my parents couldn't tell that Sora and I weren't dating anymore. I was always over at Shawn's house and when I was home, Sora and I would somewhat avoid each other. Being near Sora while Shawn and I are dating is just something that can't happen. Sora avoids me. I avoid him. Sadly, it seems like once Shawn and I do end our relationship, it'll be harder to get back on track with Sora.

Sora and I seemed to becoming more and more distant as the days passed. For sure it wasn't a good thing. I never wanted to say goodbye to him and I just couldn't let him go. When I'm home and in my room, I always seem to look at my side bedroom window where I remember him sneaking up at night just to visit me.

**Flashback**

_"Ugh, why can't I sleep?" I said out loud to myself rolling over so I was on my back. I sighed. I heard a small meow. I looked up to see Precious stretching next to my head. She hopped off my pillow and stood on my stomach looking at me with her cute aqua colored eyes. She started to purr and curled up into a ball and laid on my tummy. Now I wasn't able to move. I didn't want to move my baby. Suddenly the silence was broken by something hitting my window. Princess' head looked up at the window and Precious jumped off of me. I quickly got up to see what happened._

_I looked out my window, but couldn't see anything. I opened it and looked down. Sora was holding little pebbles and smiling up at me. "Did I wake you?" he said in a loud whisper. I shook my head. He pointed to my side yard. I turned to look at my window facing cloud's house, then turned to see why he was pointing. I saw him running into my side yard. I closed the front window and went to the side window. I opened it and saw Sora._

_"What are you doing?" I asked him._

_"Can I come up?" I looked at my door. I put up my hand motioning for him to hold on. He nodded and I ran over to my door and locked it. Precious and Princess were both at the edge of my bed looking at the window I was at. I nodded for him to come up. He looked at the tree._

_"How are you getting up here?" I asked him._

_"By climbing this tree," he said._

_"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Sora pulled over one of the trashcans next to the tree. He put it under the branch that I had to climb up. Sora climbed on top of the trashcan and jumped. He was a good jumper. Sora managed to pull himself up onto the branch. Soon he was on the tree limb that was right under my window. "Oh, I get it," I laughed. I backed up and he pulled himself up into my room._

_"I couldn't sleep," Sora said sitting on my bed having Princess jump into his lap. I sat next to him holding Precious._

_"Neither could I," I sighed. I looked at him. "Now I know how you knew how to get into my room when I was locked out." He laughed. "I'm glad you're here."_

_"Me too," he said hugging me._

_"Not to be rude, but why are you here?" I asked._

_"My parents are going to be gone for a few days for their anniversary."_

_"So you snuck out."_

_"Well, not really. There's no one to sneak away from," he laughed. I laughed too. I stood up and got under the covers. Sora sat next to me, so both of us had our backs against the wall. I pulled the covers from under him, and he sat under them with me. _

**End of Flashback**

I let out a sigh, putting my glass of water down on the counter. I walked out into the living room where Shawn was sitting on the couch. Of course, I was over at his house once again.

"I got to get to practice. I'll be back before dinner." I gave a half smile to show him I was 'happy' with him. I didn't want him to go after my friends after all.

"That's right, you have practice with One Destiny at school huh?" Shawn asked. I nodded.

"You promised that I could at least practice with the band," I reminded him. He nodded too.

"Okay, see you tonight then." He kissed my cheek. I smiled and walked out of the house. As soon as I did, I gave a shutter and wiped off my cheek. '_Yuck!_' I thought as I headed down the street. Practice didn't start until 4:30 and it was only four but I wanted to get there early, the more time away from Shawn the better. After a few blocks I arrived at school. It's so weird to be there when no one else but a few teachers just hanging around.

I walked into the auditorium where we had out instruments waiting for our practice. No one was here yet; they weren't going to be for a while. I noticed the piano off on the corner of the stage. I got up there and sat at the bench. I knew how to play, but not too well. My fingers traced the keys until I ended up playing the beginning cords of 'Listen To Your Heart.' A smile covered my face as I began to start the song. Before I knew it, I ended up singing.

_I know there is something in the wake of your smile_

_I get a notion from the look in your eyes_

_We've built to love but then love falls apart,_

_A little piece of heaven turns to dark_

_Listen to your heart, when it's calling for you_

_Listen to your heart, there is nothing else you can do._

_I don't know where you're going and I don't know listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye. _

_Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worth while_

_The precious moments are all lost in they're swept away and nothing is what it seems_

_The feeling of belonging to your dreams _

_Listen to your heart, when it's calling for you_

_Listen to your heart, there is nothing else you can do._

_I__ don't know where you're going and I don't know listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye._

_And there are voices that want to be heard_

_So much to mention but you can't find the words_

_The scene of magic the beauty that's been,_

_When love was wilder than the wind._

_Listen to your heart, when it's calling for you_

_Listen to your heart, there is nothing else you can do._

_I don't know where you're going and I don't know listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye._

_Listen to your heart. Mmmm_

_I don't know where you're going and I don't know listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye._

I heard clapping from in the entranceway. All my friends were standing up from their seats clapping and walking down the isle toward the stage. I stood up with a smile. Sora looked down at the ground with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Aw Kairi, you sounded so pretty up there!" Namine smiled as she walked up onto the stage.

"I could really feel your emotion," Amanda said hugging me.

"Heh, thanks guys. Gosh, it's good to be with you," I said to all my friends.

"We saw you in class today," Roxas laughed. I laughed too.

"Yeah I know, but Shawn was there," I replied.

"Very true," Cloud said. I looked at Sora. He slowly lifted his head and glanced at me. We kept a steady gaze at each other.

"Let's start practice," Riku said getting his guitar ready.

"Okay," we all replied. Sora and I broke away from our stare and got on stage. We started our practice, which was going great. I thought we were well prepared for having to perform next week.

"Good practice everyone!" Wakka called from seats below the stage. I set my microphone through its stand while everyone else set their instruments down. We all walked off the stage in stood in a circle. "Okay, so next week is the concert. Are you guys ready?"

"Duh, we're always ready," Riku said. I grinned at his remark.

"I was talking to some people back in Twilight Town and I found out there's a battle of the bands during the week we're supposed to be going," Roxas said.

"We should so be in it," Namine smiled.

"That sounds like a good plan," Cloud nodded putting his arm around Namine's shoulders.

"Well, here's luck to One Destiny," I said putting my hand in the middle.

"Like we need it," Sora said putting his hand on mine. I glanced next to me to see him looking at the hands gathering in the middle.

"One, two, three, One Destiny. Woo woot!" Everyone but me did our cheer. After we lifted our hands up in the air, Sora looked at him.

"We better go. Come on guys," Amanda said running down the isle toward the doors. Everyone eventually followed; Sora and I in the back.

—

I rolled over in my bed to see that it was ten in the morning. Today, Shawn was taking me out to lunch. I slowly got up to get ready for the lunch date.

Everyone was gone to work. I wasn't entirely sure how I got the day off but I did. By the time I was done getting ready, it was eleven. I grabbed my purse, my cell phone, keys, and lip gloss. I locked the door behind me and walked across the street. It was so nice out.

"Hey. We'll be leaving in a minute," Shawn said once I walked inside his home.

"Okay." He went upstairs while I waited downstairs in his living room. Obviously no one was home here either. After a couple minutes, he finally walked downstairs in a dress shirt and jeans.

"Ready to go to lunch?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. He opened the door for me and I walked out. Shawn followed, closing the door behind us. I looked next door to see Mr. Kuro running out of his house.

"Hi Mr. Kuro!" I waved. Riku's dad looked over at me.

"Kairi! Riku and his mother are in the hospital! They got into a car wreck! I'm heading over there to go see them. Would you like a ride?" he asked, panic fully heard in his voice.

"Oh my god…" I turned to Shawn. "Please, please let me go see him!"

"Go on," Shawn nodded in somewhat of shock. I ran across the lawn toward Mr. Kuro's car. He was getting into the driver's seat. I quickly got into the passenger seat and we were on our way.

"Are they all right?" I asked slightly shakily. I glanced over at the middle-aged man. Riku resembled him, quite a bit. I'm sure at Riku's age, Mr. Kuro looked exactly like him. Mr. Kuro ran his hand down his face and sighed.

"I really don't know," he said in a low voice. I swallowed hard and looked out the window. On such a beautiful day, the worst can still happen. I couldn't believe this was happening. When you hear about car wrecks, you never think they could happen to you or anyone you know, well this is one of those points proven that it can. After a dreadfully quite ride to the hospital, we finally arrived. Mr. Kuro and I sprinted through the doors and into the emergency room.

"Name?" asked the nurse at the desk.

"Riyo Kuro. My wife, Aki, and son, Riku, got into a car accident," Mr. Kuro said.

"They're in room 438 and 439." The Nurse pointed down the hallway. We both ran down to see Sora, Roxas, Namine, Cloud, and Amanda outside the rooms.

"Mr. Kuro, Kairi!" Sora said standing up. Namine was rubbing Amanda's back as she cried into her hands. Cloud was glaring at the wall in disbelief while Roxas placed elbows on his knees and rested his forehead in the palms of his hands. Everyone was in their work uniforms.

"Sora! Is Riku all right?" I asked almost in tears.

"We don't know yet," he said in a whisper looking at Amanda. A doctor came out of room 439. We all looked up. The doctor looked at Mr. Kuro.

"Are you the husband and father?" he asked.

"Yes," Mr. Kuro answered.

"You may go see your wife." The doctor pointed into the room he walked out of. "She's asleep right now. I'm going to see how the other doctor is taking care of your son." He walked into the other room, closing the door. Mr. Kuro walked into his wife's room. Sora and I decided to follow. Laying peacefully asleep, a woman with long blonde hair had a few cuts and bruises on her arms and face. Mr. Kuro walked over and touched her cheek. I saw tears start to well up in his eyes.

"Maybe we should leave him," Sora whispered in my ear, slowly pulling me out of the room. We walked out of the room and closed the door.

"How is she?" Namine asked.

"She doesn't seem hurt too bad," Sora told everyone. I walked over and sat next to Amanda. The brunette looked up at me with red eyes. I frowned slightly as I hugged her.

"I'm sure he's okay," I told her. "Riku's a strong person."

"I-I know..." I heard Amanda say.

"Does anyone know what happened?" Roxas asked.

"No one has told any of us," Cloud answered. Everyone sat down and remained silent. Minutes passed slowly. I watched nurses, doctors, and patients walk down the halls. No one seemed happy, which was understandable considering we were in the part of the hospital where no good usually comes. The horrid smell of the hospital felt like it was rotting my brain. The feeling of sadness and low hopes were high down the hallway we waited. Finally, after a long wait outside Riku's room, the two doctors came out.

"Is he all right?" Sora asked standing up abruptly.

"He needs to go into surgery in a few minutes, but he should be all right," one of the doctors said calmly.

"What!" Amanda said standing up. Her cheeks were clearly tear-stained.

"His leg is broken from the impact of the accident and he has more cuts and bruises then his mother, but he'll be okay," the other doctor assured us. "You can go visit him if you like, but please trying to stay quiet, he's still pretty out of it." The doctors went to talk to Mr. Kuro while the six of us entered Riku's room.

Riku had his eyes shut as he lay in bed with his leg straight out and slightly elevated and tightly wrapped. Cuts were placed mostly on the right side of his face and a few on the left side. Amanda walked over to his side and placed her hand on his. Slowly, his aquamarine eyes opened up to see the rest of us gather around his bedside.

"Wha... what are you guys doing here?" he asked quietly.

"We've come to see how you're doing," Namine answered.

"I'm so glad you're alright." Amanda hugged him gently, so not to hurt him anymore. Riku softly stroked her coco colored brown hair.

"Riku! My boy, how are you feeling?" Mr. Kuro walked in and stood on the other side of Riku's hospital bed. Amanda stood up so Riku's dad could hug him.

"I'm okay. I'm just sore, that's all," Riku answered drowsily, it was clear that he was heavily medicated for his broken leg. "Where's mom?"

"She's still sleeping. She's doing fine," he assured him, placing his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Time for surgery, Riku." A doctor came into the room with other doctors. We all backed away from Riku so the doctors could put him on the rolling bed that they had brought in. We all stood quietly as Riku was transferred from one bed to the other. The doctors started to pull him out of the room and down the hall.

"Stay strong!" Cloud yelled as the group of doctors hauled Riku down a different hallway. I let out a sigh.

"She's awake." Mrs. Kuro's doctor came out of her room. Mr. Kuro rushed in there, along with the rest of us. The middle-aged woman had her eyes, the same color as Riku's, open.

"Hello," she said in a sweet calming voice. I always loved Riku's mom. She's a really wonderful person.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Mr. Kuro kissed her. I noticed the girls had small smiles on their faces while the guys smirked a little.

"Where's Riku, where's my baby boy?" Mrs. Kuro asked sitting up with panic raising in her voice.

"Getting surgery," Roxas answered.

"What!" Her eyes widened.

"He's okay, just a broken leg," Amanda said softly, hoping to calm the worried mother. It seemed to work a little.

"What happened?" Sora decided to ask. Mrs. Kuro sank a little to make herself comfortable. Mr. Kuro stood up by his wife, while Amanda sat close to the other side of the bed, sharing a chair with Namine. Cloud leaned against the wall. Roxas sat in one chair, Sora sat in the other and since there was no other place to sit, I sat on Sora's lap. At the moment, I could have really cared less about what Shawn would think.

"Well, Riku and I were heading home after looking at apartments Riku can rent since Riku is eighteen after all. Well on our way past Town Square, we were driving through the intersection since the light had turned red on one side. As soon as we were passing through the intersection, a driver sped through the red light and hit Riku's side of the car." She fell silent, as well as the rest of us. "Last thing I remembered was seeing shattered glass everywhere and looking at Riku yelling in terrible pain with the other car bashed into the side where Riku was sitting before blanking out."

Silence lingered in the room. I glanced around at everyone. Every single thing seemed to be in slow motion after I heard what happened. The ticking on the wall with a few sniffles were clearly heard in my head. I looked down at my hands. Sora's tan hands were placed in mine. I don't know what I'd do if something like that happened to him.

"We better let you get some rest. This has been an eventful day for all of us. We'll leave you two alone," Cloud said standing up. All of us took his lead and left Mr. and Mrs. Kuro alone. Namine closed the door once we were out in the hall.

"Riku..." I heard Amanda whisper as she held onto a heart necklace he had given her for her birthday. I walked up to her and hugged her. Soon I realized that Sora, Roxas, Cloud, and Namine hugged us too. I missed everyone so much. Thankfully Shawn let me be with them. I truly needed to thank him for that.

As the minutes slowly came and went, our friends visited us to see how Riku was. We all waited in the waiting room for him to come out of surgery.

"I'm sure he's fine," Lissa said nodding.

"He's Riku. He'll always be okay," Tidus said.

"I still can't believe that happened to him though. I never saw it coming," Yuna sighed.

"I don't think any of us saw it coming," I replied. I glanced over at Sora who was sitting on the couch next to me. He had his elbow on the arm rest and his head leaned against his fist. Sora's other hand was on his leg. I knew how close Riku and him were; they practically grew up together.

"How much longer until the surgery is over?" Irvine asked. We all glanced up at the clock next to the door. It was twelve when he was taken into surgery and now it was one.

"Any time now," Roxas answered. Just on cue, the doctor came in.

"Are you all here to see Riku Koru?" he asked glancing down at his clipboard.

"Yes," Sora said standing up.

"He'll be waking up from the anesthesia in a little bit. You may all go in about four to a time," the doctor said to us. We nodded and he left us to decide who'd go when.

"Okay, how about Amanda, Sora, Namine, and Kairi first," Cloud said. "Then Selphie, Irvine, Roxas, and I. After us, then Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, and Lulu."

"Lissa, Josh, Alexa, and I will go in last," Blake decided. We all nodded. Sora, Amanda, Namine, and I walked though the double doors and down the eerie hallway to Riku's room. None of us talked, but just kept on walking.

We made it to room 438 where the door was closed. Sora walked in front of us and turned the handle. He walked in first, followed by Amanda, Namine, then me, closing the door behind us. Sora and Amanda stood on one side of Riku's bed while Namine and I stood on the other.

Riku was still asleep. He had his leg elevated in the air and was wrapped in a cast. It also looked like he received a few stitches from a couple of cuts he got during the car accident. He looked peaceful. I was thankful he was going to be alright. I don't think I'd be able to bare one of my best friends dying. Riku slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey sleepy head," Amanda said quietly.

"I thought that was one of Sora's nicknames?" Riku replied in a low voice from still being drowsy.

"If you didn't just get out of surgery, I'd slug you right now," Sora said quietly with a small laugh; holding back his emotions. Riku smiled while Amanda, Namine, and I laughed lightly.

"How are you feeling?" I decided to ask him. Riku looked over at Namine and me.

"Eh, I'm all right. A little tired, that's all," he answered.

"We won't stay long, the others are going to come and visit you," Namine said. He nodded barely. The four of us talked to Riku for a while and promised to be there for him while he got better.

After about five or ten minutes, the next group went in to check up on Riku while the others waited out in the waiting room. Before I realized it, it was seven at night. We figured it'd be good to get home and let the Kuro's get some rest. Roxas and Sora drove me and Amanda back home while everyone else went their own separate ways. The boys and I arrived at home around eight o'clock.

"How's Riku and his mother?" my mom asked standing up as soon as we walked inside our quiet home. All the lights were out except for the living room lamp.

"They'll be fine. Riku broke his leg and went into surgery, but he'll be perfectly fine and will be getting his cast off in about three weeks," I explained to my mom.

"Oh, that's good to hear. What a relief." She put her hand over her chest and sat back down on the couch where my dad was fast asleep. Roxas headed up the dark stairway followed by Sora and then me.

Everything seemed so different, like some kind of thrill in life dulled its self when the accident happened. I started to notice the littlest things that I never noticed before. The ticking of the clock in the kitchen, the small clamping of our shoes walking up the hardwood floors, the low rumbles of the television downstairs in the living room, it all seemed to stand out to me.

I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. My bed seemed to sigh as I sat on it. I could hear the light breathing of Precious, who was fast asleep in my chair. I slipped off my shoes and laid back in my bed, pressing my head into the pillow as I stared out the window facing the front of my house.

Sora came to mind as soon as I spotted the full moon. I hadn't really seen him in a quiet sober mood. I was surprised he was able to hold back his emotions when he saw Riku all banged up earlier today. He's such a strong person. It's really rare to see him cry and when I saw him cry for the first time, I was crushed.

**Flashback**

_"What is it?" I asked quietly. He looked down, but then looked back at me. His eyes were starting to get all teary. This was the first time I had ever seen him cry. Since I saw him doing this, tears started to swell in my eyes as well. I gently placed my hand on his cheek. "Sora," I managed to say quietly._

_"I love you so much Kairi and I'm sorry for everything that's happened." He hugged me again. I sighed in relief. _'That's all he had to tell me.' _I managed a small laugh. I rested my head on his shoulder just watching around the motionless night. I rubbed his back to comfort him while I felt him cry._

_"I love you too Sora. Just forget about what happened. I don't care any more." I tightened my hug. "Just promise me you wont ever leave me again." _

_He pulled away from my hug. "I said I would always be with you. Even if I'm not here physically, I'll always be with you in your heart," Sora said in a loud whisper. I looked up at him, my eyes flooding with tears._

_"What are you talking about?" I asked. Sora turned around and walked a little in front of me crossing his arms. His back was facing me. I kept trying to wipe my face, but the tears weren't stopping._

_"Kairi," Sora started, I heard him sniffle a few time. "I'm moving tomorrow." _

**End of Flashback**

I felt sick to my stomach when I remembered the time I heard he was moving. Sora and I have an odd relationship. It's great in general and I'm still glad we're together but when something tears us apart, it seems questionable to what kind of relationship we really hold. Our trust for each other had been put to the test before.

**Flashback **

_"So what happened?" Riku asked. I looked at him and Amanda. I took a deep breath and explained what had happened since this morning. I tried not to choke up. _

_"So do you think the someone that Josh meant was Sarah?" Amanda asked leaning toward me._

_"More then likely," I said resting my head on the wall and looking up. "I should have known." Suddenly the door to Riku's room opened. Sarah and Sora walked in._

_"God, does everyone have to keep barging in?" Riku said._

_"Kairi, I need to talk to you," Sora said firmly as he stopped right in front me._

_"What?" I said with no emotion not wanting to be near him._

_"If you really did like Josh, you should have told me. We're not supposed to keep things from each other."_

_"I don't like him, Sora! Why can't you understand that? I never kept anything from you!"_

_"Sora, she's not very understanding," Sarah whispered out loud to Sora and put her hand on his arm._

_"You stay out of this!" I yelled at her scooting forward._

_"I can't believe you didn't tell me that you kissed him!" Sora said angrily. _

_"How many times to I need to say it to you! I didn't kiss him! Nor will I ever!" I stood up. _

_"Come on Sora," Sarah said walking to the door. "Let's go." _

_"Hold on, I have to tell Kairi something," Sora said walking up to me. "I don't care if you want someone else." I looked away crossing my arms. _'He's never going to understand.' _"It'll probably be too late for you to understand what I'm trying to tell you. I'll miss you, but something in my head keeps telling me that you wont miss me."_

_"What the hell are you talking about?" I said looking back at him._

_"Just forget it okay, just never mind," he shook his head. "You don't catch on too well. I shouldn't have to explain anything to you. Sarah's right, you're not very understanding," Sora said looking at Sarah. Looking at them, I didn't want to know what Sora said, he was just getting on my last nerve._

_"Leave," I said firmly trying not to scream._

_"My pleasure," Sora said walking to the door, but he turned back around. "Sometimes I can't believe you Kairi," he said with a disgusted look. Cloud and Namine came to the door._

_"I need to lock my door," I heard Riku say. I would have laughed, but it just wasn't the time for me to be doing so. I really wanted to scream. _

_"What's happening?" Cloud asked looking at all of us. _

_"What are you doing here?" Namine asked Sarah._

_"We were trying to talk to Kairi," she replied. Namine and Cloud walked next to me._

_"How do I know that you're not with Sora?" I asked shaking my head._

_"I'm not going out with her," Sora said glaring slightly._

_"Oh and I'm supposed to believe that?"_

_"You should."_

_"Why should I when you don't believe me, Sora? Really?" I asked harshly._

_"She's the only one I could talk to with out something like this happening!" he snapped back._

_"Leave Sora," I said again firmly. "Get out!" I knew the relationship was over, even if he didn't tell me. He glared at me before walking out._

**End of Flashback**

I sat up in my bed. _'This whole dating Shawn thing was just another test to see if Sora and I could make it past another obstacle.' _I thought as I stood up and walked over to my window where I faced the street to Shawn's house. No way was this obstacle going to ruin us, and I wasn't going to let it go. I knew I had to make things better, for Sora, Riku, Namine, everyone. I had to do something.

**A/N**: With the flashbacks, it made this chapter longer, but I think they worked with the chapter. See, I said something bad was going to happen and it happened to Riku but at least he's okay! Sorry to all my Riku loving fans out there (i.e. **Twilight's Sanctuary** -Amanda- and **Pointless People of Pluto **-Sara-), like I said, he's okay -smiles-. So, what's Kairi got up her sleeve? I guess you'll all have to wait until the next chapter to find out for sure! Important note below, please read!

**Last Call for anyone who wants to be in the last chapter!**

- I need a name you want to be called, grade and what group (enemies or group). I need **all **that info or I **can't **put you in the story, sorry but that's just how I'm making it. **I won't be accepting anyone after chapter 27. **Please, if I need to make any corrections on who I have so far then message me a.s.a.p. I need you all to **confirm **the information that's put below if you want to be in the story, if not, again, I can't put you in the story. Sorry but I can't be too nice!

**Astro Pea**- Kyasarin- Junior- Group (Roxas)

**LovelyPrincessSakura**- Stephanie- Sophomore- Group

**SoraKairi forever**- Reno- Senior- Group

**ChibiVixen**- Donna- Junior- Group (Sora and Kairi)

**SexyKairi**- Sakura Niwa- Junior-

**Lili-Sama**- Lily- Junior- Enemies (you don't need to confirm because you're already in the story)

**Flower girl**- Kirena- Sophomore- Group

**BigBoss5**- Vincent Valentine- - Group

**Axel**- Axel- Junior- Group (Roxas)

**Sora's Girl aka JRL**- Jennifer- - Group (Namine and Sora)

**SorasGaurdianAngel**- Bri - Sophomore- Group (Kairi and Sora)

**Pointless People of Pluto**- Sara- Senior- Group(Riku)

**Alchemist- Zantazulcen**- James- - Group (Riku)

**Golden Night with Dark Stars**- Jess- -Senior- Group (Kairi, Sora)

**LilKitten1/SoraxKairi7**- Katie - -

**DarrenMathias**- Darren- senior - Group (Cloud)

**PeepMeow**- Lilac - Senior- Group

**Ruredy4sum9**- Alex Casper - senior- group

**New Flames**- Ty - -

Please review and confirm. Thanks guys!


	25. Back Home

**A/N**: Dang you guys! I'm more than half way to 1000 reviews! You guys have no idea how thrilled I am, but who knows if I'll make it to there by the end of this story. 8 chapters to go... well 7 after this one. Anywho, enjoy this chapter, I think you'll all be pleased -smiles- Oh and sorry for any spelling errors and what not, I didn't feel like re-reading this chapter to check for them!

**Chapter 25**- Back Home

I walked over to my closet and looked through to see what clothes seemed perfect for this occasion. No one knew what was on my mind this very second and I planned to keep it that way. A small smirk graced my face as I reached for a light pink T-shirt and a white skirt. Once I changed into my outfit, I slipped on my flip-flops and grabbed my bag before leaving my room.

I knew I had to act like nothing was planted in the back of my mind as I walked downstairs to see Sora, Roxas, and my mom in the kitchen. The boys were eating breakfast and my mom was just getting ready to head off to work.

"Morning Kairi," my mom said to me as she grabbed her bag and a bagel.

"Good morning," I said sitting down to eat a bowl of cereal.

"Well I better go. You kids have a good day at school. See you tonight at dinner." She waved as she rushed out the door. It fell silent among the three of us.

"Today should be a good one," I declared as I placed my spoon into my bowl of Frosted Flakes. Roxas and Sora both looked up at me.

"It's Monday... what good comes from a Monday?" Roxas asked. I shrugged while looking down at my breakfast.

I took a deep breath in. "I don't know, it just seems like it's going to be good one," I replied quietly while stirring my sugary goodness around in the cold milk.

Sora cleared his throat lightly. "Well, I better go. I'm driving today." He turned to Roxas, "want a ride Roxas?" Sora asked reaching down for his bag before standing up.

"Yeah, sure." Roxas did the same. They both put their dishes in the sink and walked over to the front door.

"Later," Sora called as he walked out the door with his cousin right behind him. I still was looking down at my bowl before the front door slammed closed, causing me to jump and clank my spoon to the ceramic bowl. There, he did it again; he avoided me. I was getting so sick of it. It's not like it was my fault that I had to date Shawn and why was he showing this attitude toward me this far into the relationship?

I stood up, causing the chair I was sitting in to slide back a number of inches as I walked over to the sink and put my bowl away. I wasn't even done but I wasn't all that hungry anymore anyway. My golden retriever walked up to me with her tongue hanging out. I grabbed a hold of her pink collar before pulling her to the back door and letting her out. Once I closed the back door, I grabbed my bag and walked out front where I was supposed to meet up with Shawn and Amber.

"Ready to get to school?" Shawn called from his front yard.

"Very," I replied running across the street. Amber was already in the car. Shawn and I took the front of the car and pulled out of the drive way. The ride to school was a quiet one, but it was just what I needed; thinking time, planning time.

The morning had gone by like any normal morning at school. I was glad to hear that bell after Yearbook to go to lunch. Sora and everyone left class quickly. I felt bad for the whole thing; I just wanted him to know I still loved him. I walked out of class with Shawn to meet up with his group of friends.

Shawn, Jake, Tyler, Sarah, Cindy, and I were all walking down the hall. Shawn had to go to his locker, so we went with him. He was putting in his combination when I saw Sora and some of the group just across the hall. They were all talking. Just seeing them made me happy. I smiled just looking at the people I loved and missed being with. I really hated putting on this act. It wasn't me. I looked down both ends of the hall. Practically everyone was here. Christy was walking with Amber and Lily down the hall toward us.

"Hey Kairi," Amber smiled. I smiled back at the short haired brunette. My friends seemed to hear her because they looked across the hall at us. They smiled at me making me smile wider. Shawn's locker slammed shut. We all looked at him.

"Come on Kairi," Shawn said putting his arm around my shoulders. My happy moment was over. He led me over to my friends' lockers. Their smiles faded as we came face to face, only a few feet away.

"What?" Riku glared. He was in crutches but seemed to be doing fine. I looked at Sora who seemed like he lost his whole spirit. He never looked directly at my eyes lately. His face seemed emotionless.

"Nothing," Shawn smirked. "Just showing off what you guys are missing." I rolled my eyes. Here he goes, playing off his side everyone hated. Why couldn't he just be the nice Shawn I got to know?

"Leave," Namine said crossing her arms.

"Or what?" '_Oh gosh, not again._' I sighed.

"We'll make you," Cloud glared coldly.

"There are more of us than there are of you," Amanda said meaning the girls of the group.

"Like I'm scared of a bunch of girls," Shawn said sarcastically. All of them glared at him. Sora was starting to show his anger as well.

"I'm so sick of this," I said under my breath looking down.

"What was that?" Shawn asked looking at me.

I looked at him. "I'm sick of this," I said loudly for the people around us to hear.

"Sick of what?" Jake asked. I shook Shawn's arm off of me.

"I'm sick of all this bickering between all of us! I'm sick of hurting Sora and my best friends! It's not fair to them having to put on an act as well! They're not happy! Cindy and Sarah want you, and you have me! Christy, Amber, and Lily are in the middle! Jake and Tyler have to watch over me! My parents keep on asking me what's wrong! We're all living a big lie! I'M NOT HAPPY!" I yelled out of frustration. I looked at Shawn and pointed right at him. "You have no right to control me. I am my own person. I don't _have _to date you. I make my own decisions! No one should have to fight for me!"

Everyone looked completely stunned by my sudden out burst. I looked around the hallway. People crowded around to watch. I was standing in the middle breathing heavily before I looked back at Shawn.

"You have so many girls after you Shawn! Why me? I've set my path! I belong with them!" I pointed to my group of friends. "You can't tell me that I'm not allowed to be with them! I'm sick of crying because I miss them! I'm sick of seeing them mad when I'm with you! I wish I would have seen and understood this in the beginning."

"Kairi..." Cindy began.

"No. I don't want to hear it Cindy. I'm not through," I interrupted. I looked at Sora who seemed the most shocked. I looked back at Shawn. "I love Sora. We belong together. We were made to be with each other. You can't keep us apart. No one can," I said calmly even though my heart was still pounding. I looked at Sora who was leaning against his locker. I got a sudden urge to prove that everything I meant was true. I walked closer to him and lightly shoved him against his locker by his shoulders. I looked deep into his ocean blue eyes. I closed my eyes and kissed his warm light pink lips. Some whispers were heard all around but I tuned them out. Right now, my whole focus was on Sora.

My mouth was slightly open and so was Sora's. We kissed lightly until I decided to take it a little further. I opened my mouth a little more causing him to do the same. My tongue entered his mouth. I felt his warm breath mix in with mine as my tongue grazed his. I pulled away slowly; closing my mouth as we separated. My eyes opened; I looked up at Sora whose eyes were just opening. I smiled sweetly at him.

"Wow," he said breathlessly with a small, shocked laugh. "I missed you." Sora smiled pulling me into a hug.

"I missed you too," I whispered. Once we pulled away, I looked around the hall. My friends were all smiling. Everyone else seemed shocked. I looked at Shawn with a smile. "It's over, Shawn."

I took Sora's hand. The group and I walked through the crowd and toward the lunchroom. Suddenly everything seemed brighter.

"Kairi really did that!" Tidus asked wide-eyed. I laughed at his and everyone else's expressions once we told them what I did right before lunch, after school.

"Yeah, I know. We were all shocked too," Sora said with a smile as he put his arm around me.

"I'm so glad I'm back." I grinned as I hugged Sora.

"We better go. Don't we all have work today?" Cloud asked. It was true, most of us had jobs now and needed to get to work. Namine and Selphie were going to start their new job today.

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea," Riku said as he started to move down the hallway on his crutches.

"Riku, do you want me to drive you?" Sora asked.

"That'd be nice," our silver haired friend replied. We all walked out to the parking lot where we all separated into different cars.

Cloud dropped Alexa home before taking us to our street. Sora, Riku, and Roxas arrived home at the same time as Cloud, Namine, and me. Once Sora helped Riku to his house, we all ran to our own homes to get changed into our own work clothes. Namine got in her car and drove over to Selphie's; I got in my car and drove to Amanda's; and Sora and Roxas left to go to Best Buy while Cloud went to his new job.

Yuna was at the register by five and Amanda was putting new clothes on the racks. I was putting together an outfit on one of the front manikins.

"Geez, I'm glad I'm on break!" I heard Namine's voice sigh in relief after the jingles on the door rang. I turned to face her.

"Why? Don't you like working there?" I asked as I put what I hadn't put on the manikin in the box.

Namine crossed her arms, tilted her head, and rose an eyebrow. "One word – Shawn," she replied.

"What about him?"

"I don't know. Just still annoyed by him," Nam sighed. "Oh, and he wants to talk to you tonight or something like that."

"What?" My eyes widened.

"I don't know exactly. I wasn't really paying too much attention to him."

"Great..."

"I better go, Selphie's waiting for me back at work. I'll see you later." Namine waved as she left the store, causing the jingles on the door to ring. I watched her through the window as she disappear past the cars and buildings. After I couldn't see her anymore, I bent down to get all the clothes I was putting on the manikin.

"What do you think Shawn has to say to you?" Amanda asked who obviously heard what Namine had said to me.

"I don't know if I want to know," I answered truthfully.

After work ended at seven, I headed home. It was starting to get dark. When I pulled into the driveway, I noticed that Shawn was home and in his bedroom. He must have seen me because the light in his room turned off as soon as I walked into my house. My cell phone, which was in my pocket, vibrated. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out, noticing that I had just received a text message. I flipped open my phone and read it.

_Hey Kai, im comin over in a sec. I saw u pull up and i wanna talk. C u in a bit. -Shawn_

'_Oh just peachy_.' I thought as I closed my phone. Talking to Shawn after breaking up with him wasn't something I really wanted to do, so I quickly ran through my backdoor where Princess was. She started barking happily at me.

"Princess! Shh!" I said trying to calm her down as she jumped at me. "No, Princess, stop!"

"Kairi?" I heard Blake's voice say from his side of the fence.

"Blake, get Cloud!" I yelled in a hushed manor back at him.

"Okay..." Blake went inside. While he did that, I pulled the trash cans from under the tree Sora used to climb, over toward the fence separating Cloud's yard and mine.

"Kairi, are you still out here?" Cloud's voice called.

"Yeah," I answered. "Shawn's coming over and I can't sneak out front to get to your house, so I'm jumping the fence."

"Er, okay?" I climbed onto the trash cans while Princess still barked.

"Princess, stay quiet!" I whispered to her and I peaked over Cloud's fence. He was standing there looking along the fence line when he spotted me. He ran over and reached up for me. I put my hands on his shoulders. I placed my feet at the top of the fence and lightly jumped off as Cloud lifted me through the air and into his yard.

"So why are you coming here?" he asked as I ran to his back door.

"I just don't want to talk to Shawn. If Shawn comes over, tell him you haven't seen me," I replied as I ran up the stairs and into Cloud's room. Once I got in there, I decided to sit on his bed and wait for a while. It was clear that Sora and Roxas weren't home when I arrived or else that could lead to conflict between Shawn and Sora. After a couple minutes, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" I hear Blake call. I hoped to god that it wasn't Shawn. I heard mumbling from the floor below me but couldn't understand anything anyone was saying. After about a minute, many footsteps were heard coming up the stairs. My eyes widened as I heard Cloud talking.

"Shawn, I suggest you leave my house. Kairi isn't here," he said.

"She has to be, she's not anywhere else and her car is at her house," Shawn said. By the sound of it, it sounded like they were heading into the room. I quickly bolted into Cloud's closet by his bathroom.

"She probably went for a walk," Blake suggested.

"No, I think she's here," Shawn sounded quite positive.

"Get out of my house," Cloud said coldly as they entered the room. I held my breath so I wouldn't give myself away.

"Just give me a second. I'm just checking," he replied.

"Whatever," my blonde spiky haired friend sighed under his breath. I could hear rustling in Clouds room. Finally after a short while, Shawn gave up.

"Okay, I guess you were right. She's not here," Shawn said. "Sorry for bothering you." I heard footsteps leave the room and go down the stairs. I finally climbed out of the closet where the Strife boys were standing.

"He actually apologized?" Cloud asked stunned. I crossed my arms and shrugged.

"See, he's not all that bad," I replied. "Well, I better go. Thanks for covering for me."

"Yeah, no problem. See you tomorrow." Cloud and Blake waved as I left toward the stairs. I flipped open my cell phone and turned on the volume incase my parents called; it was on silent so if it did go off while I was hiding, Shawn wouldn't have heard me.

I walked down the stairs and out the back door. Cloud's trash cans were actually placed against the fence and just on the other side were mine. I walked over and stood on the cover. Just as I put my leg over the fence, I saw Shawn start to head across the street. I knew I had to stay quiet as I straddle the fence. Of course, my luck, my cell phone rang. I started to wobble as I let out a little yelp. I caught my balance and fumbled searching for my phone. When I finally got it out, I noticed it was Sora. Quickly, I had to turn the sound off and let it go to voice mail. I sighed in relief. I saved myself.

"Kairi?" Shawn's voice said. '_Damn._' I though as I looked up to see him in my front yard looking at me.

"Uh, yeah?" I asked hesitantly.

"Were you just at Cloud's house?" he asked me.

"Er... yeah." A sigh escaped my lips. Princess, who was still outside, finally noticed that I was on the fence and started barking. Shawn looked at my side gate before walking over to open it. He walked into my side yard and reached up for me.

"Here, I'll help you down," he said. I looked at him for a second before I put my other leg over the fence and onto my trash can. I reached out to him and he slowly brought me down to the grass in my back yard.

"Thanks," I said as I straightened out my outfit. Princess wagged her tail energetically at us. We started to head into my actual back yard where we sat on my cushioned swing. Princess followed us and laid out in front of us. "So, what did you need to talk to me about?"

"About this last month," Shawn said as we swung slowly back and forth. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for making you date me. I've always been amazed by you and you never cease to amaze me. So I've heard from my friends, they told you that I am interested in someone else. The reason I had you date me was because I wanted to make her jealous. She obviously wasn't jealous of Sarah or Cindy and I had a feeling that since you were really well known because of your choice of friends, she'd get envious of you. I don't think that plan worked out though."

"Who's the girl?" I decided to ask.

"I'd rather not say," he replied.

"Well you know, some jealousy between girls leads to hatred of other girls and guys. You may be have just made her not like you," I said. He looked down at Princess.

"I guess you're right. She probably hates me like no other now." Shawn stood up. "Well, I just wanted to apologize for everything that's happened." I stood up as well.

"That takes guts to apologize," I responded.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "I better go. See you later, Kairi."

"Bye Shawn." The green-eyed teen left with his hands in his pockets. I brought Princess inside with me. She immediately ran upstairs. As I walked into the kitchen, the main phone line rang. I reached out, taking the phone off its charger and answered it. "Hello?"

"Kairi?" A lady's voice said into my ear.

"Yes?"

"Hello dear. It's Sora's mom."

"Oh! Mrs. Hikaru! How are you?" I asked politely. I always liked Sora's mom; such a sweet lady.

"I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking. How about you kids and your parents? Are they good?" she replied. I walked over and sat at the bar table.

"We're all doing great." I smiled remembering that I was Sora's again. "Just great."

"Oh, that's good to hear." I heard her laugh on the other side. "Well, is Sora there?"

"He should be getting home soon. I'll have him call you when he gets off work," I told her.

"Thank you dear. Well, I better go then. Good talking to you."

"Good talking to you, too, Mrs. Hikaru. Bye."

"Goodbye sweety." I pressed the off button and placed the phone on its charger. Almost on cue; as I opened the fridge, the front door opened. I looked up to see Roxas looking back at the open door as he walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, where's Sora and why did you leave the door open?" I asked.

"Shawn's outside and Sora and Shawn are talking out front," Roxas told me.

"What are they saying?"

"I don't know. I walked inside as soon as I figured Sora wouldn't kick his ass," the blond said sitting at the table. I glanced at the open front door to see if I could see anything. Sora walked in closing the door behind him.

"Hey," I said catching his attention. Sora looked at Roxas and me. "What did Shawn say?"

"He apologized," Sora said who was obviously stunned by this side of him.

"Yeah, he said the same to me just before you got home."

"Did you accept the apology?" Roxas decided to ask.

"In a way," I replied.

"I said that I'd forgive him but karma happens," Sora said sitting next to Roxas.

"Very well put," Roxas said with a nod. I decided to sit down with the guys.

"Your mom called, Sora."

"Really? What did she say?" he asked.

"She just asked if you were home. I said you'd call her back when you got home."

"Alrighty. I'll call her after we eat dinner," Sora said. "Hey did you ever check your voice mail on your cell phone?" I pulled out my cell phone, completely forgetting that Sora had even called me. It said that I had two missed calls and one voice mail.

"I forgot," I said dialing my voice mail number.

"I just called to ask what you wanted for dinner because your parents couldn't get a hold of you to tell you that your mom called saying that they'd be home late tonight. I figured I could get us something to eat before I came home but you never answered or called back."

"Sorry about that," I laughed listening to Sora's message. He smiled at me.

"It's alright." He stood up and kissed me. "Let's go get something to eat."

"Okay," Roxas and I said at the same time. We both stood up as the three of us headed out the door to go get us some dinner.

"Fri-day! Fri-day!" Selphie chanted happily as we walked out onto our school lawn. I smiled at her. I made it a whole week with my friends and I absolutely loved every second of it.

"Finally!" Tidus sighed. "So what are we doing this weekend?"

"How about we go to the beach and hang out. Maybe just spend the night there?" Amanda suggested.

"Oh, bonfire!" Lissa smiled.

"Sounds like a plan," Lulu agreed. "How about we go and get food for tonight."

"Okay. First, we should get home and tell our parents, then we can meet up at the beach around eight. Bring whatever, like games and food," Sora said.

"Sounds good. Let's go," Cloud said.

"Wait!" Josh said. "What beach are we staying at?"

"Oh, that'd be good to figure out," Yuna said with a nod.

"How about the Hidden Beach?" I suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Riku said.

"Okay, it's settled. See you guys later." Sora waved as our group went our separate ways so we could get prepared for our little sleep over at the beach.

**A/N:** Yeah, short chapter, but hey! It was worth it. Sora and Kairi are finally together -smiles wide-. Yeah, so I NEED YOUR GUYS'S HELP! Alrighty, well the next chapter will be Valentines day. I'd appreciate it if you would all go to my profile and read the little help ad for this story. I'd really love to hear all of your suggestions! The faster I get suggestions, the faster I'll update. So if you want a fast update, lend me your ideas! Thanks for everything guys! Love you all!


	26. Love Is Forever

**A/N**: I don't know how fast I'll be updating this story only because I need things to inspire me to write this very popular story. I don't want anyone to give up on this because I'm not updating as much as I used to. It already seems like I have lost some reviewers... or at least they're not reviewing... which, incase no one knew... reviews do inspire writers! So I need them to keep me going!

**Chapter 26**- Love is Forever

"Let's go!" Roxas called out to Sora and I. I grabbed my sleeping bag and my bag with my things in it before rushing down the stairs to meet up with the boys.

"Okay, Kairi, it's only a night at the beach. You don't need to pack your room up," Sora said looking at my over stuffed bag. I grinned at him.

"You can never be too over prepared," I said matter-of-factly.

"With you, I don't know," my boyfriend said under his breath as he walked out the door before smiling back at me. I lowered my eyes and glared.

"Hey, I heard that!" I said running after him as he bolted out the door. I looked back at Roxas laughing.

"I'll never understand you two," Roxas said shaking his head as he closed the door behind us.

Night time had fallen over the beach. The night was perfectly clear with the stars shining their brightest. A silver lined full moon was illuminating the ocean water as it danced around in the waves. Sora, Roxas, Riku, Cloud, Josh, Blake, Irvine, Wakka, Tidus, Amanda, Namine, Lissa, Alexa, Selphie, Lulu, Yuna, and I were all laying on our backs staring at the dark sky. (**A/N**: I'll never get over how many people I actually have in this story...).

"Valentines is coming up," Selphie randomly decided to bring up.

"Yeah, in two weeks to be exact," Lissa replied. "Isn't it on a week day again?"

"Let me check," I said pulling out my cell phone and flipping over to the calendar. "Yep, it's on a Wednesday."

"So what are we going to do this year?" Tidus asked.

"Well like what we did last year, we can have it so we celebrate on the weekend again," Namine smiled.

"Isn't there going to be a carnival?" Riku questioned.

"I heard there was one," Lulu answered.

"Lu, we should go to the carnival!" Wakka declared. She laughed slightly in reply.

"Okay. We can do that." (**A/N**: Thank you for the carnival idea _Darren Mathias_ -smiles-)

"I'm so going to that too," Amanda grinned.

"Obviously that means I'm going as well," I heard Riku say. Amanda pouted.

"You're making it seem like I'm forcing you to go or something," she said sitting up and looking at him. In away it looked like she was going to hit him.

"No, no, I'm going. Don't hurt me." Riku coward to himself causing me to laugh. Amanda suddenly glomped him.

"I'd never hurt you Riku!" Amanda smiled widely. We all laughed as Riku gasped for air.

"Oh! You guys, I forgot to tell you! My parents bought a boat. I'm sure they'd let us use it for the morning on Valentines Day before we go off and do our own thing!" Alexa said suddenly.

"They finally bought that boat they wanted?" I asked surprised. She nodded excitedly. "Sweet."

"That sounds like a plan to me," Sora grinned goofily. (**A/N:** Thanks for the boat idea _Kevin_! Told ya I'd use it. -grins- And _x3Kairi_ I'm going to add your part to the boat ride thing too!)

"This seems like it's going to be a fun V-day," Namine smiled. I looked down at my ring and smiled as well.

"All guys, follow me. I want to discuss something with you," Sora suddenly said standing up and dusting the sand off of him. All the boys of the group followed his lead. I sat up and looked at the girls.

"You guys, I have an idea for when we go on the boat," I said.

"What is your idea?" Yuna asked.

"Why don't we sing for the guys? I know a perfect song for how we feel towards them."

"What song?" Amanda wondered.

"You've heard of the song 'StickWitU' by the Pussycat Dolls, right?" The girls nodded in response.

"That's such a sweet song!" Alexa grinned. I agreed with her.

"Let's start practice tomorrow," I said as I looked over at the guys, wondering what they were talking about just a ways off.

Our pre-Valentines Day arrived, which fell on Saturday, the 10th. My aunt Juli and uncle John agreed to letting us use their new boat as long as we were responsible and who ever was the oldest was the one who got to learn how to operate the boat. We all arrived at the boat docks at ten to set up before heading out.

"So who's the oldest out of you?" my uncle John asked.

"Riku, Irvine and I were all born in '88," Cloud said.

"Okay, when are your birthdays?"

"Mines November 16," Riku said (**A/N**: Keep in mind, I made up everyone's birthdays... well actually I got some of the actual characters birthdays but I just had to change the year they were born to fit the story).

"Mine is August 19," Cloud replied. (**A/N**: his actual birthday -grins- same with Irvines)

"And I was born on November 24th," Irvine said.

"Okay, Cloud, follow me. The rest of you get set up for what you guys have planned," Uncle John smiled as he climbed aboard with Cloud close behind.

"So what are we going to do?" Amanda asked curiously.

"How about we steer out to where we have no noise and then we can eat lunch together," Alexa suggested.

"Sounds good to me," I inputted as we all started to walk onto the boat. The group started to wander the new boat to get good look around.

After almost half an hour of learning what is where, Cloud started the engine. It rumbled, lightly shaking the boat. My uncle waved at us as we started to take off into the ocean. As the boys went to hang out with Cloud in the steering hold, I gathered up the girls and we went beneath the deck.

"So are you guys ready to sing?" I asked as I opened the closet which held all of our clothes that Alexa put in for us.

"Of course," Namine smiled as she stood next to me, getting out her outfit as well. All of us girls grabbed our black jeans, pink tank tops and black shoes and put them on. Alexa, Namine, Amanda, Lissa, Lulu, Yuna, Selphie and I warmed up our voices and waited for the boat to stop moving before heading up to the top deck where the boys waited. We walked up casually to see the boys standing around talking.

"Woah..." Tidus said spotting us first. Yuna smiled as Selphie placed the CD player on one of the seats.

"We have a little surprise for you, so if you could please find a seat, we can get started," Lissa smiled sweetly. The boys did as they were told and sat next to one another. The girls lined up in front as I quickly turned on the song and ran back in line. Of course, being the lead singer, I started and walked directly toward the boys; all my attention on Sora.

_I don't wanna go another daySo I'm telling you exactly what is on my mindSeems like everybody's breaking upAnd throwing their love awaybut I know I got a good thing right hereThat's why I say (Hey...) _

_Nobody gonna love me betterI must stickwituForeverNobody gonna take me higherI must stickwituYou know how to appreciate meI must stickwituMy babyNobody ever made me feel this wayI must stickwitu _

_I don't wanna go another daySo I'm telling you exactly what is on my mindSee the way we rideIn our private livesAin't nobody getting in betweenI want you to know that you're the only one for me (one for me)That's why I say _

_Nobody gonna love me betterI must stickwituForeverNobody gonna take me higherI must stickwitu (nobody)You know how to appreciate meI must a stickwituMy babyNobody ever made me feel this wayI must stickwitu _

_And nowAin't nothing else I can needAnd nowI'm singing 'cause you're so, so into meI got youWe'll be making love endlesslyI'm with youBaby I'm with you, baby you're with me (oh yeah) _

_So don't you worry aboutPeople hanging aroundThey ain't bringing us downI know you and you know meAnd that's all that counts (hey hey)So don't you worry aboutPeople hanging aroundThey ain't bringing us down (ooh)I know you and you know meAnd that's, that's why I say (Hey) _

_Nobody gonna love me betterI must stickwituForeverNobody's gonna take me higherI must stickwituYou know how to appreciate meI must stickwituMy babyNobody ever made me feel this wayI must stickwitu_

_Nobody gonna love me betterI must stickwituForeverNobody's gonna take me higherI must stickwituYou know how to appreciate meI must stickwituMy babyNobody ever made me feel this wayI must stickwitu_

The boys started clapping and stood up to greet us in hugs and kisses. I started laughing as Sora tightened his hug. His face snuggled next to mine.

"I love you so much," he said. My cheek brushed against his before I kissed him.

" I love you, too," I smiled.

"I'm hungry," Namine said randomly. We all looked at her and started laughing.

"Okay, let's have lunch then," Cloud declared. We all went together downstairs where the food was. The group snacked on what ever there was to eat until our stomachs were content, before we started to do our own thing with our significant other.

Cloud, Sora, Riku, Namine, Amanda, and a few of the others went upstairs while I stayed downstairs to look around the boat.(**A/N**: Thank you Ladyflower Aerith for the idea!) I walked into the backroom where I noticed balloons, a nice little table set up with candles and fancy silverware, heart pillows, and other romantic stuff. I picked up a little card that said "Dear Alexa, you don't even know how much you mean to me. I care about you more then anything and I'm so glad that you're mine. Love, Blake."

"Aw..." I said quietly as I placed the card back down on the table. I silently slipped out of the room as I heard Alexa and Blake come downstairs.

"Come on Alexa. I want to show you something," Blake said.

"I'm coming," Alexa laughed.

"Hey you guys." I waved as I ran up the stairs as they made it to the bottom. They waved back before I disappeared. Everyone but Blake, Alexa, Yuna and Tidus were on the main deck talking and listening to music. Out of curiosity, I went to search for the other missing couple since I knew where the younger ones were. I walked up to the top deck where the steering hold was. Two familiar voices were talking. I kept taking an extra step until I could see what was going on.

"You can't whistle?" Tidus asked Yuna, who was leaning against the rail.

"No," she replied shaking her head. (**A/N**: Thanks New Flames!) Tidus smiled and took her hands so she would look at him.

"I can teach you if you want. When you need me, just whistle," he smiled sweetly. She nodded and smiled.

"I'd like that," Yuna answered. They kissed and he began to show her how to place her lips so the whistle could come out clearly. I smiled and left the two alone; walking down to the lower half of the ship where the others were talking.

After a couple more hours on the boat, we all arrived back to shore. Everyone but Sora and I decided to go to the carnival in town.

"We had a lot of fun. Tell your parents thank you again for letting us use their brand new boat," I said hugging Alexa.

"I will. Thanks for coming," Alexa said hugging me back.

"We'll see you around. Bye." Sora waved with his free hand, since his other one was holding onto a blanket he had brought on the boat with us. The others waved and I latched onto Sora's arm as we walked down the sidewalk.

"That was a fun ride," I sighed looking up at the sky as I snuggled Sora's arm.

"Yeah, it was," he said smiling as he looked down at me. I leaned up to kiss him lightly.

The two of us walked silently toward the beach that had so many memories of us. The hidden beach was still so unknown to so many people and really if you just look through the bushes, you can see the pathway. Sora and I walked through the little path and finally arrived at our spot. Sora lifted the blanket in the air and let it fall upon the sand for us to sit on. I walked across it to the middle and sat down. Sora sat down beside me and leaned back, having his arms support his body as he stared out into the endless ocean.

"The weather sure is nice today," I said trying to bring a conversation up.

"Uh-huh," he replied. The way he responded wasn't the exact way I was hoping it would turn out.

"Yeah... so..." I said awkwardly.

"..." was his answer.

"You're not very talkative." I looked next to me at the brown haired boy.

"Sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You can't lie to me..."

"I know."

"Then if you love me, you'll tell me," that had caught his attention because his eyes shifted from the ocean, to me. He let out a sigh before sitting upright.

"It's just something I heard on the boat. Something Tidus said," Sora said quietly.

"What'd he say?" I asked curiously. He took a deep breath in before speaking again.

"That you may end up hurting me in the long run." I was shocked that those words came from Sora's mouth. I was appalled that Tidus would even say such a thing.

"Why did he say that?" I asked quietly. Sora shook his head and shrugged while looking down.

"I don't know. He just think that you're using me because you want a boyfriend. He also mentioned that if you really did love me, you never would have dated Shawn, no matter the circumstances."

"I can't believe he'd say such a thing." That's when I started to feel my emotional side building up inside me. My voice started to shake and my vision was slightly starting to blur. "Sora, I love you. I don't want anyone saying what I feel and what I don't feel."

"Kairi..."

"No," I interrupted. That's when the tears came rolling out. "The reason I dated Shawn was because I just wanted to get the stupid drama over with so no one would hurt anymore! You know that! I'd never use you in a million years. I'm not that kind of person and again, you should know that! Sora, you should be believing me. If you love me like you say you do, you'll trust me. I love you too much to let you go." I couldn't control any emotions at this point. I was so angry and sad at the same time. Silence fell between us as I brought my legs to my chest and hugged them. Sora looked over at me.

"Kairi," he said. I didn't reply but only buried my face into my legs. I felt his arm wrap around me, pulling me closer to him. "Look at me."

"No," I mumbled through my tears. I felt his hand reach under my chin and he made me look at him.

"Look. I guess sometimes I just need to be reminded. I'm sorry that I let Tidus get to me. I love you and I do trust you." I looked into Sora's eyes that were full of concern. I know he doesn't like to see me cry. I reached over with his other hand and wiped the tears streaming from my eyes. I fell into his arms and placed my head into his chest. His hand stroked my hair. "I'm sorry."

I didn't reply. I didn't know how to. Sora and I just sat there in silence as my tears started to dry up. The time seemed to fly by as we just sat there in each others arms. Finally after what seemed like forever and as the sky began to darken, I sat straight up and sighed.

"I love you," I heard Sora say next to me. I looked at him and he had the most serious face.

"I love you too. I mean it," I replied. Sora reached over and kissed me. We both sighed which caused a half smile to each other.

"Let's go." Sora stood up, wiping the sand off of him. He held out his hand and I reached up for it. I did the same before we shook the sand off the blanket. His fingers laced with mine. We walked through the brush and back onto the sidewalk. The crickets were chirping happily. "How about we go home and I'll make you dinner to make up the crappy part of this Valentines Day?"

"Sounds good to me," I nodded. He smiled at me before kissing my forehead. The two of us walked home together to make this night just a little bit better.

**A/N**: Eh, not too pleased with how I ended this chapter and what's worse is that it's short. However, I do think I got over my writers block -yay!-. This chapter took me way too long so that's kind of why it's so blah. I just wanted to get it over with to the parts I have planned out a little better. Sorry it did take me so long, so many attempts to update and it took me 4 months to finish it... oy, what a shame. Sorry again! Anyway, if you're still with me, please review!

Oh! And I have a very important message to everyone at the top of my profile page. It's a must read. Thanks again if you're still reading Dear Diary 2! The next chapter will hopefully be good!


	27. A Second Family

**A/N**: Hello my wonderful readers! Thank you all so much for those of you who reviewed (**Broken-Hearted229 **, **Darkwing13 **, **Axel **, , **Kandayo **, **Ponygon **, **Twilight's Sanctuary **, **chefbekah1304 **, **RottenxBanana **, **callmeAZN **,** New Flames** , **The-Great-Ninja-Alexa2006 **, **Deliahgirl **, **bluefoxfaerie **, **Ellie0223 **, **AnimexFreakx4xEva **,** Crystal Butterfly** , **KHfreak1992 **, **crazycutie2 **, **Alexandra **, **Peepmeow , Gabi , The Nefarious Dark Clown , Sora's GuardianAngel , A Serious Joke , Pheonix** , **SoraxKairi7 , KHPrincess31** , **Darren Mathias** , **SakuraAngel6761** , and **A Fan**...). You guys are absolutely fabulous and that's why this chapter is dedicated to you. Love you all! Check that out, I finally caught up chapter wise with Dear Diary.

**Chapter 27**- Second Family

It was getting closer to the colorful part of the year. March finally came around, slowly bringing the warmer weather along with it. The sun was shining through my window early nine-o'clock in the morning. There was a light knock on my bedroom door. I pulled the covers to my waist and sat up.

"Come in," I called with a yawn. The door opened to reveal Sora, fully dressed and ready for the day.

"Morning sleepy head," he said. I smiled at him before yawning again. "You remembered that my parents are coming for the week, right?"

"Oh yeah," I said nodding. I pushed the blankets off of me and stretched before getting up. "When are they coming?"

"At ten."

"Oh crap. Okay, I'm jumping in the shower." I ran over to my closet and grabbed an outfit and rushed past Sora, who was leaning against my doorframe casually.

"You know, Roxas is already in there," he called after me. I looked back at him as I stopped in front of the closed bathroom door.

"Roxas!" I banged on the door. "Hurry up! I need the shower!"

"Wait your turn!" I heard him yell back. Sora snickered behind me as he walked by into his room.

"Boys," I sighed leaning against the wall and sliding to the floor while I waited for Roxas to finish up in the bathroom.

Finally an hour later, I was showered and dressed. Everyone was sitting at the lunch table eating a late breakfast. Just as I was about to sit down at the table, there was a knock at the front door.

"I'll get it since I'm already up," I announced. I walked through the dining room to the entryway and opened the door. Right before me was a very pretty middle aged woman with long dark brown hair and green eyes. Next to her was a handsome middle aged man with sapphire blue eyes and light brown hair. They both had suitcases in their hands. "Mr. and Mrs. Hikaru! It's so good to see you guys!" I exclaimed hugging them.

"Oh, Kairi. You know you can call us Yuri and Ryuu," Mrs. Hikaru smiled as she hugged me.

"Mom! Dad!" Sora's voice called from behind me. I turned around to see him grinning from behind. I stepped aside so the Hikaru family could reunite in a group hug.

"What's up Aunt Yuri, Uncle Ryuu?" Roxas appeared next to me.

"Look at you, Roxas," Ryuu patted his nephew on the shoulder and looked at Sora. "These two boys are finally becoming men." The cousins looked at each other and smiled.

"Come on in," Sora said. We all walked into the entryway. Sora and Roxas took Yuri and Ryuu's bags upstairs while I led them into the kitchen where my parents were.

"Helen!" Yuri ran over to hug my mother. (**A/N**: wow, I think that's the first time I've mentioned Kairi's -my- parents names... although, it's their middle names)

"Yuri, I'm so glad you made it!" My mother said happily as she hugged Sora's mother. "How was your trip?"

"Long," Ryuu answered stretching.

"At least you two are here now."

"Thank goodness," Sora's mom answered with a smile.

"We should have a barbeque for dinner," my dad spoke up. He looked over at me. "You can invite your friends if you want."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"If we're going to have a barbeque, you should go buy the food then," my mom said.

"I can help you out with that, Ayson," Sora's dad offered.

"Alright." The two dads went to go get the keys before walking outside to head out to the store. Roxas and Sora ran into the kitchen just as they had walked out the front door.

"Where'd dad go?" Sora asked looking around.

"They're going to go get food for tonight because we're going to have a barbeque," his mom answered. "Why don't you boys help me and Helen out back for the barbeque tonight."

"Alright," he answered. My cell phone vibrated implying I had a text message. I reached into my pocket as Roxas, Sora, Yuri, and my mom walked into the back yard where Princess was barking excitedly. I flipped open my cell to see I received a text message from Amanda. It read:

_Every1 is busy today & my mom asked me 2 find some1 2 teach me 2 drive. Can u?_

I hit the reply key and typed in:

_Yeah, of course. I'll b there shortly. _

After I put my phone away, I went out back where everyone was. I told them where I was going before heading to my room where my license was. Precious meowed when I walked into my room. I patted her head and grabbed my wallet off my side table.

I drove down a few streets to Amanda's house. She was sitting outside on her porch waiting for me to pick her up. I turned off the engine and met her at the end of her sidewalk.

"Hiya," Amanda smiled.

"Hey," I smiled back. "So you have your permit right?" She pulled it out of her back pocket. "Okay good. Now here are my keys. Let's get in the car."

The two of us hopped into my Toyota Carolla. After we buckled up, Amanda put the key in the ignition. We started down the road which was nice and calm. I was pretty surprised that she was driving so well considering this was probably one of the few times she's actually been behind the wheel. She drove toward the highway.

"You've driven on the highway, right?" I asked nervously as the speeding cars approached nearer.

"Of course," Amanda said confidently. " There just wasn't that many cars..."

"Oh..." I swallowed hard. "This should be interesting..."

Amanda stopped at the stoplight. We watched the cars passing by and I quickly anticipated our turn as I saw the light turning from green, to yellow, then red. Our light finally flashed to green and Amanda turned. She did perfect as traffic started to catch up with us. I stared out my window to see the people at the beach on this warm, late winter day. That was always the good thing about living on a tropical island, beach time all year long. I noticed a familiar face walking down the street with his head down and looking at his cell phone.

"Amanda, pull over. It'll be a chance to learn how to parallel park," Amanda nodded and turned on her right blinker. She pulled into the parking lot and eased into a spot. "Well done," I said quickly before hoping out of the car. I walked slowly toward the boy and placed my hand on his shoulder. He quickly jumped back.

"Oh, Kairi. You scared me," Shawn said.

"Sorry," I apologized. "What are you doing? You look kind of down."

"Oh, well I went to go visit someone but they weren't home. Now I can't find a ride home and you already know that our houses are far from here," he said closing his phone and putting in his pocket. I looked back at Amanda in my car.

"Well, we could give you a ride, if you want that is," I suggested. Something about today put me in a good mood that I was willing to be nice to Shawn... which was weird.

"Uh, sure. That'd be nice." I nodded and we walked over to my car. Amanda looked wide-eyed at me as I got in.

"We're taking Shawn home."

"But we're not done driving," Amanda sighed. My cell phone rang and before I could pick it up, Amanda grabbed it out of the cup holder. She looked at who it was before handing it to me. "It's Sora." I took my phone and answered it.

"Hey," I smiled.

"Hey, Kai, where are you?" Sora's voice traveled into my ear.

"We're in the main part of town by the beach."

"Oh, well do you think you could pick up Elizabeth? I'd really love it if she could meet my parents."

"Great idea. We can go do that."

"Great. Thanks. See you in a while. Love you."

"Love you, too."

"Bye," we said simultaneously and hung up. As I placed my cell phone back into the cup holder, I looked at Amanda. "Well to solve the minimum driving time, you can drive us across town to get Elizabeth so she can meet Sora's parents."

"Alright," Amanda agreed. We started down the highway again toward our next destination. I kept debating whether or not to invite Shawn to the barbeque tonight. The ride was kind of quiet and awkward and I was relieved when we finally reached the nursing center.

"I'll be back," I told Amanda and Shawn as I slid off the car seat and closing the door. As I walked up the side walk to the double doors, I looked back to see Amanda slumped down in the drivers seat looking through her cell phone and Shawn with his elbow leaning against the door handle, looking outside the window. I walked through the automatic doors and everything outside disappeared as the doors closed behind me. The girl behind the main desk waved to me as I passed by with a smile. I headed to the elevator and went up to Elizabeth's room.

"Come in," Elizabeth's voice called from behind the door after I knocked. I placed my hand on the door knob and twisted it open to see Elizabeth walking out of her bathroom. When she saw me she opened her arms, motioning me to give her a hug. "Oh, Kairi, sweety. It's good to see you."

"You too," I smiled as I hugged her. After our hug, she pulled me back slowly by my shoulders.

"You've grown so much," she smiled. I laughed a little.

"I guess."

"So what brings you here?" Elizabeth asked.

"Actually, I was coming to get you to so you could join my family for a barbeque tonight. Sora's parents are here for a couple weeks and he really would love if you could meet them," I told her.

"Oh, I'd love to meet Sora's parents and come to you're families barbeque." She walked to her dresser to get a jacket. After I helped her put it on, I helped her walk to my car where Amanda and Shawn were still looking bored. Elizabeth got into the back seat behind Amanda and I returned to the passenger seat.

"Amanda, you can come to my house to welcome Sora's parents at the barbeque. We're inviting all our friends," I told her.

"That sounds fun," Amanda smiled as we drove toward my house.

I pulled down the visor and looked through the mirror to see Shawn behind me. "Um, Shawn you can come too, that is if you want." Secretly I hoped he didn't want to.

"I'm going to have to pass," he said without looking at me. "Thanks, anyway."

"Oh, alright," I replied. Obviously something was wrong but we're not close enough for me to even really bother asking what was wrong, so I shrugged it off. The rest of our ride was silent until we pulled up to my house. Everyone got out of the car. Amanda helped Elizabeth out and to my door where Roxas was walking out front. Shawn got out of the car and Roxas saw him. He just gave him a cold stare before helping Amanda with Elizabeth inside. Shawn turned to me and ran his fingers through the back of his hair.

"Thanks for the ride," he said.

"You're welcome," I nodded. He gave a small nod before turning and walking toward the street. I sighed. "Shawn!"

"Hum?" He turned around to look at me.

"Whatever is bothering you, don't let it stress you out. It's weird seeing you this quiet," I said. He just gave a small, unsure smile. "Look, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you." He nodded.

"Thanks, Kairi," Shawn said before walking to his house across the street. I turned around to walk to the front door of my house. As I walked in, Yuri, Ryuu, who was back from the store now, and my parents were talking with Elizabeth in the living room. Roxas and Sora were out back playing catch with Princess' tennis ball. Amanda was holding Precious coming out of the kitchen.

"What took you so long?" Amanda asked. I glanced at the clock on the wall to see I had only been out side for a few extra minutes longer than everyone else.

"I was talking to Shawn," I told her. She put Precious down on the ground. We both walked into the kitchen. "Why?"

"I think it's kind of weird with you being so nice to Shawn suddenly," Amanda said opening the fridge and pulling out two soda cans and handed me one.

"Yeah, I know. I don't know what's come over me," I said taking it. We headed up the stairs to my room. I closed my door behind us. Amanda sat on edge of the bed while I turned on my stereo to the local rock station. 'Lips of an Angel' by Hinder was playing. I sat on the opposite edge of the bed from my younger friend.

"Hey, let's do that soda tab thingy. You know, where you open the can and say the a, b, c's to see what letter you land on," she suggested.

"Okay," I smiled. "You can go first."

"A, b, c, d," Amanda kept reciting the alphabet until it was getting closer to the letter 'R'. She looked determined as it got to 'N'. "o, p, q,..." As she got to 'R', she ripped it off and smiled, lifting the soda tab in the air triumphantly. "Woo hoo! I got the letter 'R'!"

"Geez," I said laughing. "You're such a spaz." Amanda just smiled at me.

"You're turn, Kai."

"Okay." I put my index finger and my thumb to the tab and as soon as I popped the opening of the can, it sprayed soda all over me. After it seemed to empty out most of it's contents onto me, I looked at Amanda through all the fizz in my hair. Amanda seemed completely shocked as she sat across the bed with her mouth dropped open, placing her soda can on the other side table next to my bed, before she started laughing hysterically. I gave her the death glare. "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

"Oh my gosh! That was the funniest thing I've ever seen!" Amanda said through her laughs. She leaned back, obviously forgetting that she was already at the edge of my bed and falling back onto the floor with a soft thud. It was silent for a bit before she let out a small 'ow' and lifting her upper body to peek at me from the other side of the bed. "Karma, huh?"

I suddenly started laughing at the reaction of the whole thing. I set my can on the bedside table where my diary was and laid on my bed laughing. Amanda joined me still laughing from falling and the explosion of my soda. We couldn't stop laughing, like one of those things when your friend is laughing and you're laughing because they are and vise versa. My door opened and Amanda and I looked up as we started to calm down from our laughing fit. Sora and Riku, who had obviously just got here, were staring at us with a mix of worried, scared and confused looks on their faces.

"Um, what are you two laughing at?" Sora asked walking into my room a little more so Riku had some room to enter.

"Kairi opened her soda and it exploded all over her," Amanda said starting to laugh a little again.

"Nice look, Kai," Riku said as I stood up, covered in soda. I felt really sticky and gross.

"Ha, ha," I replied, realizing I had to take a shower and wash my sheets. Riku walked over to my side table and lifted up the can. He eyed it carefully before looking at all of us with somewhat of a glare.

"Why is my name on this?" he asked. I looked at the can to see 'For Riku' written in blue sharpie. Sora ran over and grabbed the can from him.

"Aw man! This is the can I was going to give to Riku as a joke!" he said bummed.

"You mean to tell me that _you're _the one who shook it up?" I asked. He nodded before I

slapped his arm.

"Hey!" he yelled. "It wasn't meant for you Kai, it was meant for Riku!"

"Hey!" Riku hit him in the same spot.

"Ow!" Sora said rubbing his arm. Amanda just sat there drinking her soda.

"Kids! If you're going to invite you're friends, you better call them soon because the barbeque will be done in an hour!" my mom yelled from downstairs.

"Okay!" I replied. "Well I'm going to take a shower. You guys can start calling up the gang."

About an hour later, everyone had arrived and was out back. I ran my fingers through my hair as I walked out to my backyard where everyone was enjoying the group barbeque. All the adults, meaning all the parents, were talking and laughing around the patio where the food was. I saw Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, and Josh talking in the corner. Lissa, Amanda, and Namine were all giggling while playing with Precious. Sora, Riku, and Cloud were playing with Princess on the other side of the yard. Alexa and Blake were walking up to the table where the drinks were sitting. I smiled seeing everyone together and enjoying the time we could share.

Josh saw me and waved. I waved back happily until Tidus and Yuna glanced my way. Tidus just stared with somewhat of a glare. Yuna fumbled with the hem of her shirt before turning away. I was tempted to wave and make an attempt to be nice even though he had said things that weren't true, but Tidus just shook his head and turned back to the crowd. I moved across the yard, my smile and enthusiasm slowly fading. I sat on the lawn couch-swing and folded one leg under me and let my other leg slowly push me back and forth. I saw my promise ring catch the sunlight, so I began to twist it slowly around my finger. A shadow blocked the gleam of my ring.

"Hey," Sora said sitting next to me. I looked at him. "Why aren't you mingling?"

"Eh," I shrugged. "Just wanted to enjoy the view."

"What's wrong?" he asked putting his hand upon mine.

"I honestly don't know. I'm just kind of out of it I guess."

"If you want to talk about it, just get my attention. I'll always be here to listen to you. Remember that." His blue eyes were staring at me intensely with much concern. I nodded.

"I know, and thanks," I smiled. He gave me one nod and kissed my forehead.

"Food!" My dad called. Just like a herd of wild animals, everyone ran to the table. Sora laughed.

"Come on," he smiled, getting up. His hand was placed in front of my faced. I put my hand in his and together we walked to eat with everyone else.

After dropping Amanda off at her house after working a few days later from the barbeque, I began to think of how weird it was working with Yuna. Since obviously she'll take Tidus' side, she would ignore me too. I pushed it into the back of my head as I pulled up into the driveway. The birds were chirping around me which caused me to take a deep breath and smile.

I put my hand on the doorknob and pressed it down. I heard Sora, his parents, and my parents in the living room talking. Being nosey, I silently closed the door and decided to see what their topic of choice was.

"Don't tell Kairi _anything_," Sora's voice said sternly. Now they really caught my attention. I leaned against the wall with my coat still on, bag in hand, and being silent.

"We won't say a word," my mother's voice said softly.

"I want it to be a secret until the time is right," he replied with now a quieter tone.

"Honey, we're proud of you for being so brave about all of this," Yuri said. "You're making the right decision."

"Thanks mom. Hopefully everything will be okay between Kairi and me in the mean time."

"Graduation will be even more full of emotions then normally thought," my mom sniffled slightly.

"After graduation though, how's Kairi going to react?" Sora questioned. Now I was so confused. What does Sora mean, 'after graduation, how am I going to react?' My eyes opened a little wider when I thought of the possibility.

"No..." I said in a whisper. He can't possibly mean he's moving after graduation...

"Knowing Kairi, she'll be strong and except the fact that it's reality and not a dream," my dad said.

"Sora, I'm proud to call you my son," Ryuu declared. I was so light headed and shocked. My purse dropped out of my hands and fell on the floor with a clunk. I heard shuffling in the living room and my mom appeared in front of me.

"Kairi, honey. I didn't hear you come in," she said. I didn't reply. Instead, I pulled off my coat and put it in my arms and grabbed my purse off the floor. I walked toward my mom in the entryway of my living room. I saw Sora sitting with his mom's arm around his shoulders on the loveseat, my dad and Sora's dad sitting on the couch and an empty spot next to my dad where I was guessing my mom had been sitting.

"Hello Kairi," Yuri smiled. I lifted my arm up and waved.

"Well, we should start cooking dinner," my mom announced.

"Oh, Helen, I'll make it tonight." Yuri stood up and walked around the coffee table.

"Kairi, would you like to help me?"

"Sure," I said nodding. "Let me go put my things away real fast." I walked passed my mom and Yuri to the stairs. I walked up slowly and still tried to comprehend what I had heard. I pushed open my door to my room where Precious and Princess were snuggling up together on my bed. I laid my bag and coat on my bed and sat next to my pets. They both looked up at me. I sat there in silence for a while.

"Kairi?" There was a knock at my door. I looked up to see Sora leaning against the doorframe. "My mom's waiting downstairs."

"Oh, right... Sorry," I said standing up. I tired to walk passed Sora but he stopped me. He placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Babe, what's wrong?" That was the first time I think he'd actually called me be a nickname. I looked into his eyes.

"I'm just tired from work. That's all. I'll be fine." I kissed his cheek and tried to walk passed him again, however, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a quick, tender kiss before letting me go. I walked down the stairs and heard commotion in the kitchen. My mom was helping Yuri get all the food and dishes out to make whatever were having for dinner tonight.

"Come on in. Ready to make a meal to remember?" Yuri asked smiling. I smiled back.

"Yeah," I replied.

"I'll leave you two to work your magic." My mom smiled before walking out of the kitchen.

"So what are we making?" I asked Mrs. Hikaru.

"Well I'm going to make my famous casserole," she said. I didn't really like casserole. "Even people who don't like casserole, love mine." I looked at her as if she read my mind.

"Okay. So what do you need help with?"

"You can make the salads." Yuri was at the stove now, with a pan at hand. I looked at the island in the kitchen to see the lettuces, croutons, tomatoes, cucumbers, and some cheese sitting next to the cutting board and a bowl. I walked over to the sink and washed my hands before walking over and pulling the lettuce apart.

"This is nice," I heard Yuri say after a short bit of silence.

"Yeah. I'm glad we're spending this time together. Thanks for letting me help you," I smiled. I ripped the lettuce into eatable pieces before cutting the tomatoes.

"Some bonding time between my baby boy's girlfriend was something I've always wanted to do," she laughed a little causing me to laugh too, hearing "my baby boy" and imaging Sora.

"It's nice to be doing this." Finally the smell was starting to kick in and it was defiantly mouth watering. I tossed the tomatoes into the bowl with the lettuce. Next up, I began to cut the cucumber.

"You know, you do mean a lot to Sora," Mrs. Hikaru said. I slowly turned around to look at her. She was still mixing the contents of the casserole so she had her back to me. "I've never seen him so happy. When we make phone calls back and forth to each other, he always has to mention you. He reminds me every time how much he loves you, Kairi. You're the best thing that's happened to him, and I can tell it'll last."

I didn't say anything at first. I just stood there. It was one thing to hear it from Sora himself but to hear it said by someone so close to him made it seem more real and touching for some reason.

"I love your son, Mrs. Hikaru," I finally said. "He's made each day worth living. The fact that he's living in the same house as me makes it seem surreal. It's a once in a lifetime chance to have the person you love, at a young age, live with you. I'm thankful that you let him live here. Thank you for that."

It got quiet again and slightly nerve wrecking. Mrs. Hikaru had stopped mixing the casserole mix and just stood there looking down. I felt a lump in my throat but did my best to swallow. Yuri sniffled, her back arching a little as she did so.

"Yuri?" I asked quietly taking a step forward. She turned to face me, tears threatening to fall from her green eyes. I was taken back by this sight. Mrs. Hikaru was always so happy and to see her sad was something I though I'd never see. I started to get a little worked up myself.

"Oh, Kairi!" She ran over and pulled me into a tight, motherly hug. "You're like the daughter I never had. I'm so happy you and Sora are together."

Again, it was weird dealing with this. I thought she was sad but clearly she was happy. I put my arms around her, patting her back. A couple tears worked their way to my cheeks, of course they were happy tears too.

"Mmm, what smells so good?" Roxas's voice traveled into the kitchen from the entryway. We both looked up to see him walk in. "Oh! Are you making your casserole, Aunt Yuri?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, Roxas," she smiled.

"Sweet!" He grinned before running up the stairs. I shook my head while Yuri laughed.

"He didn't even know we were crying," Mrs. Hikaru wiped her tears with her apron.

"Boys can be blind sometimes," I laughed wiping my tears too. (**A/N**: no offense, guys.)

"Let's get this meal cooked," Yuri nodded with a smile.

"Right," I agreed, turning around to finish making the salad.

After about forty minutes, the whole meal was complete and the table was set. Everyone was coming from where ever they were to sit down together for a big family dinner.

"This looks wonderful," my mom smiled as she sat next to my dad on one end of the table. I sat on the other side of my mom with Roxas on my other side. Ryuu took the other end of the table with Yuri next to him and Sora next to her and across from me.

"Thanks to Kairi, we made a very tasty dinner," Yuri looked at me. I smiled as everyone looked at me.

"Can we eat?" Roxas asked impatiently looking at the food in front him.

"Let's eat," My dad declared and everyone began to pass plates around the table to get a share of everything. Sora looked up from the arms and bowls being passed and saw me before smiling. I smiled shyly, just realizing I was not going to let him go, no matter what, I wouldn't let him go.

"Thank you for letting us stay at your house. We had a good time," Ryuu shook my dad's hands before giving him one of those hugs only guys give each other: a lean forward, pat on the back and that was that. My parents, Sora, Roxas, and I were at the docks with the Hikaru's to see them off.

"It was a wonderful trip," Yuri said hugging my mom tight.

"Thank you for coming. It was a pleasure to have you. You two should come again soon," my mom said hugging Yuri back just as tight.

"We'll be back for graduation of course," Ryuu said winking at Sora before Yuri nudged him.

"You should really plan a trip to visit us sometime. We'd love to have you as guest," she insisted.

"Will do," my dad smiled. The ship blew it's whistle letting the passengers know it was almost time to go.

"Goodbye, hunny," Mrs. Hikaru wrapped her son in her arms quickly and kissed his forehead, leaving a light pink kiss mark. She hugged Roxas and then me.

"You three be good," Mr. Hikaru said. "Take care."

"Bye!" My mom waved as the Hikaru's waved and walked aboard the ship. We waited until the ship let out another whistle before leaving.

"That was a good two weeks," my dad said as the five of us walked to the cars.

"It was," my mom agreed. My hand found it's way into Sora's hand without me realizing it.

"So who's going home with who?"

"I'm sure the kids want to ride together."

"We'll take Sora's truck," I said. Roxas, Sora, and I waved to my parents before climbing into Sora's truck and buckling up. Sora leaned over, put his hand on my cheek and started to kiss me.

"Oh god, get a room!" Roxas hollered from the backseat. Sora stopped kissing me, but kept his hand on my cheek as we both looked back at Roxas who had his arms crossed and was looking outside. We both started laughing. Sora sat back down and started the engine. The whole ride home, his hand was placed on mine on the arm rest.

**A/N**: Ah, how was that? Pretty good, no? Decently long, nice detailed chapter with all the info to get you thinking and saying 'aw'. Well it's not quite New Years yet where I am, but by the time most of you read this chapter it will be. So, HAPPY NEW YEAR! (woot! Gradation only 6 months away! And a few chapters away for this story!) Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and thank you all again for reading xoxo

oh btw, to "**A Fan...**" I loved the quote. It was really true and meaningful when I read it under the circumstances I was under when I got the review. Thanks. Oh and the college thing will be mentioned in the first chapter of _Dear Diary 3: Unwritten_.


	28. Spring Break prt 1

**A/N**: Thank you all again for reviewing! You're all freaking fantastic! You know what I noticed? When Roxas first came to live with Kairi and Sora, he said he was from Simplicity City (chapter 13), then in chapter 18, he said he was from Twilight Town... so I'll eventually go back and say Roxas is from Twilight Town. Just thought I'd share my discovery... anywho, read on!

**A/N (11/9/10): **I just fixed it! But if you notice it somewhere else, please let me know. Thanks!

**Chapter 28**- Spring Break prt 1

_Dear Diary,_

_It's finally Spring Break! The whole group is going to Twilight Town like planned. Roxas is way excited to go back to see all of his friends. It's only about an hour away from Star City, so Jenna, Casey, Kyle, and Chris will meet up with us at the hotel. Roxas told me that his parents are letting him, Sora and I stay with them. They offered to have everyone stay at their house but letting fifteen, including my friends, so nineteen teenagers stay in their 4 bedroom house was way too much to handle. Couldn't blame them. Anyway, we'll be leaving soon, so I better finish packing. _

_Love always, Kairi_

I put my diary into my bag with all my clothes and necessities. I stroked Precious' fur before walking out into the hall with my bags at hand.

"How many cars are you taking?" my mom asked Roxas as I walked down the stairs.

"Well Sora, Kairi, Cloud, Namine, and I are taking Sora's truck," he answered.

"Riku, Amanda, Blake, Alexa, Lissa, and Josh are going in the Koru's van," Sora added.

"And Wakka's driving Lulu, Tidus, and Yuna. Irvine and Selphie are riding in Irvine's car," I finished. My parents and the boys looked at me as I set my bags down by the door.

"Make sure you all stay together and call us if you need anything," my dad said.

"We always do," I reminded him. He put his arm around my shoulders to pull me closer and kissed the top of my head. "Well, we better get going so we don't hit any traffic."

"Have fun!" my mom called out to us as Sora, Roxas, and I walked outside with our things. Cloud and Namine were walking from their houses with their bags in hand. Sora took my things and piled them into the back of his truck with everyone else's things. Just across the street I could see Riku and Blake putting their bags in the back of the van before going to pick up the other four. Princess ran out the front door with her tail wagging ecstatically. I smiled, rubbing behind her ear.

"Come on, Kai," Sora said scratching Princess's back. "Time to go."

"Alrighty. Go inside, girl." Princess whimpered and walked inside. I walked around the front of the truck and hopped inside the passenger side. Roxas, Cloud, and Namine got in the back.

"Ready for this trip?" Sora asked as he backed out of the driveway and the rest of us waved at my parents in the doorway.

"It's been a long awaited trip," Roxas smiled behind Sora's seat. I knew he was happy to be going back to his home town. Riku honked his horn as we drove past while the rest of us waved. Before this trip we decided to all meet up in front of Josh's house since his house was the closest way out of town toward Twilight Town.

"You know what we haven't done in a while?" Cloud said from behind my seat. I flipped the visor down so I could see him talking through the mirror.

"Hum?" I questioned.

"One Destiny hasn't played anything other than school concerts lately. I think we need to perform more," he said.

"I agree with that," Namine said.

"We should talk to Wakka about it. I'm sure he'll think the same," Sora said as we drove down the streets. The early morning sunrays were shining through the top of the trees onto the street.

"So how long is this trip?" Namine asked.

"Oh yeah, you never went to Star City or Twilight Town, have you?" I said. Namine shook her blonde head.

"It's about five hours," Cloud answered for me.

"And since Twilight Town is almost an hour away from there, it'll be almost six hours," Roxas corrected. I looked at the clock on the dashboard which read _9:35. _

"Sometime around 4 is when we'll get there," I sighed.

"I'm going to sleep," Roxas leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes. Before I even realized it, I was sleeping too.

"Kairi..." I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I could see the afternoon light. I took in a deep breath of air as I stretched and saw a city, slightly familiar to me. Sora's reflection was in the visor mirror now. Next to me, Roxas was driving and Cloud was sitting behind him with Namine sleeping on his shoulder.

"Where are we?" I asked yawning again.

"We're almost into Twilight Town," Roxas answered.

"Already?" I sat up and looked forward. The sky seemed to already be turning into dusk since it was splashed with orange, pink, and gold colors. I had to admit, it was defiantly beautiful. I looked in the side mirror to see Riku's van, Wakka's blue Integra, and Irvine's black car not too far behind Sora's red truck. The buildings in Twilight Town were all neutral colors which made the sky stand out more and the building that caught my eye was the Twilight Town clock tower.

"Wow," I heard Namine behind me. Obviously she was awake now.

"So where are we going first?" Cloud asked.

"We're going to drive to my house, than we'll go to you're guys' hotel, then we'll meet up for dinner with my friends," Roxas said. As we drove through the town, I saw that it was a quiet little town. The streets had a few people wandering around but nothing like Destiny City. There were signs on the buildings that had the words "Twilight Town Struggle Contest" in big bold letters.

"Roxas?" I said still staring out at the signs scattered around the walls.

"Yeah?"

"What's the Struggle?"

"It's a contest between two people at a time. They take foam clubs and you practically sword fight," he explained. "You battle until either your opponent's club drops from their hand or they're down."

"That must take a long time," Namine said.

"The battles last all day long."

"How many people actually participate?" Cloud asked. I reached down for a water bottle in the cup holder and took a drink.

"Well the usual people who participate when I lived here was my buddy Hayner, me, and our worst enemy, Seifer," Roxas said. In mid-swallow, I spit out some water and started coughing.

"Kairi, are you okay?" Sora started patting my back. My throat stung as I started to subside from coughing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said coughing one last time. I reached into the glove compartment and started wiping up my mess.

"What was up with that?" Cloud said leaning in.

"I had a tickle in my throat," I fibbed. We started turning down some residential streets. At the end of the street we were on was a beige, two story house.

"Oh, is this your house?" Namine said leaning forward to get a better look.

"Yeah," I saw Roxas smiling. I could clearly see that he was happy we were finally here. Roxas pulled into the driveway while the others parked on the side of the road. It felt so good to step out into the fresh air and stretch.

"God, my body is so stiff!" Wakka hollered from behind me as we started to head up the sidewalk.

"That was the longest car ride ever," Blake said.

"At least we're finally here," Lissa smiled. We all gathered around the front door as Roxas rang the doorbell. We all waited in silence until someone came to the door. As the door slowly opened, a woman with dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes appeared before all 17 of us.

"Oh, my," she said, obviously shocked by the number of people at her front door. Her eyes looked at each and everyone one of us until she spotted Roxas and Sora. "Roxas! Sora!" She quickly pulled them into a hug.

"Hi mom," Roxas managed to breath out as he was being squeezed.

"Hey aunt, Evany," Sora gasped before she stepped back to get a better look.

"I'm so glad you boys are here. This must be all of your new friends that you've told me about," Mrs. Hikaru said.

"Yeah, this is Kairi, Namine, Cloud, Amanda, Riku, Lissa, Josh, Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, Blake, Alexa, Selphie, and Irvine," Roxas said introducing everyone in the group. We all waved and some said their hello's.

"My goodness, this is such a big group," she said.

"Hunny, who's at the door?" a tall man with light brown hair and blue eyes said. Him and Sora's dad looked so much alike, that they could pass as twins. He saw all of us and said, "wow."

"Hey dad," Roxas grinned.

"Roxas!" His dad put him in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles into his sons head before letting him go. "How are you, kiddo?"

"Good," Roxas said laughing and fixing his hair.

"What's up, uncle Masuyo?" Sora said giving his uncle a high five.

"Not much, just checking out the many faces staring back at me," Mr. Hikaru said. It was so weird to see Roxas's dad acting so carefree and childish, in a good way of course, compared to Sora's dad who was more series about everything.

"Dad, this is the gang," Roxas said nodding our way.

"What up gang?" he said in a surfer dude kind of way. I laughed at his actions. I already liked being here. We all had our own answers and of course we had to reply at the same time, so it all pretty much came out in gibberish. Mr. Hikaru stared at us for a second with a dumbfounded look and his mouth slightly ajar before nodding, "Oh, cool... cool." (**A/N**: lol Roxas's dad kind of reminds me of Crush from Finding Nemo... so give him that kind of personality when thinking about him.) We all laughed again.

"Well, Sora, Kairi, and me will be back in a few hours. We're going to head over to other's hotel and meet up with Kairi's friends, then we're heading to dinner," Roxas said.

"Okay, have fun! See you in bit!" Roxas's mom called out as we started to walk to our cars again.

"Who's driving?" I asked.

"Kairi, you haven't yet. It's your turn," Sora said.

"Namine hasn't driven yet!" I said in my defense since I honestly didn't want to drive.

"Yeah I did. You were just asleep so you can't remember," she said.

"Dang it..." I sighed. "But I don't know where I'm going."

"I'll tell you where to go," Roxas said. "Because I don't think anyone does either."

"Fine," I sighed and got into the drivers seat. Everyone piled into their cars and followed me down the roads. Roxas told me each road to take as we worked our way to Sunny Villa Resort. It was a large hotel with a swimming pool and all the meals of the day available to guests. Everyone parked their cars and we headed in as a large group. Everyone at the front desk had wide eyes to see so many kids at once.

"We're checking in," Riku said once we reached the main desk.

"Names?" The lady behind the counter said.

"Sparing, John," Alexa said. John and Juli were willing to help pay for the rooms which was very helpful for the group. Alexa, Lissa, Yuna, Lulu, and Selphie were staying in one room together. Amanda and Namine agreed to room with Jenna and Casey since they were more familiar with each other than with the others in the group. Cloud, Blake, Josh, Kyle and Chris were rooming in another room while Riku, Wakka, Tidus, and Irvine agreed to stay in a room.

"Takumi, Denise," Namine said, using her mom's name.

"Strife, Claudia," Cloud said.

"And Koru, Riyo," Riku said. The lady at the front desk typed in everyone's names and handed out keys the each person who stayed in a particular room.

"Kairi!" The voice was so familiar that I didn't even have to turn around to see who was calling my name.

"Jenna!" I smiled as she came up to hug me.

"Looks like we made it just in time for checking in," Casey said hugging me next as Kyle and Chris walked up.

"Yep. What's up?" Cloud said hugging each one of our friends.

"Not much," Kyle answered for everyone.

"So when's dinner?" Chris asked.

"We have to get to your rooms first, then we can worry about food," I laughed. We all walked to the elevators and split into four groups. Everyone met up on the fifth floor and each of my friends went into their assigned rooms. After spending a little time in the hotel rooms, we all drove to the restaurant over looking the town. We got out of the cars and started to head inside.

"Roxas?" a female's voice said. We all turned to see a girl with bright greens eyes and brown hair smiling at us. "Roxas, it's you!"

"Hey, Olette!" Roxas said as the girl named Olette hugged him.

"Roxas!" two boys said at the same times. One had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes with a camouflage-like outfit while the other was wearing a red t-shirt and had black hair with brown eyes.

"Hayner! Pence!" Sora's cousin grinned as the two boys met up with him and Olette.

"Guys," Roxas said looking at us. "These are my best friends, Olette, Hayner, and Pence."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled.

"Nice to meet you, too." Olette nodded.

"Well, let's go inside so we can eat," Roxas decided. We all followed him and the others into the restaurant. They had to seat us at four different tables but we still sat close together so we could get to know everyone better.

_Dear Diary, _

_So far from what I've seen, Twilight Town is a wonderful place to live. Roxas's friends and family are definitely ones you can grow to love. It's already a new day and it seems like we'll have a blast. In a little while, Roxas, Sora and I are going to meet with the others and we're going to take a tour of the town. I can't wait to see what else there is. Well, I better go so we can get a move on._

_Love always, Kairi_

I walked downstairs to meet up with the Hikaru's. Sora and Roxas were talking with Roxas's parents about what's new in their lives.

"Morning Kairi," Mrs. Hikaru smiled as she handed me a plate with a couple pancakes.

"Morning," I smiled back as I sat down with the others. "You have a wonderful house."

"Thank you," she laughed to herself. "It took a lot of work." I only smiled at the comment as I began to consume my breakfast.

"So Roxas," Mr. Hikaru said to his son. "Are you going to compete in the Struggle while you're here."

"I don't know, probably not only because we have so much to do and so little time. I think it would just be best to hang out with the gang while we're here since it's been a while," he said shrugging and taking a drink of his orange juice.

"When do the sign-ups close?" Sora asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon," Mr. Hikaru said.

"Well, you always have time to change your mind," Mrs. Hikaru told Roxas, who just nodded.

"We should get going." He stretched as he stood from his seat.

"Where are we meeting everyone?" I asked as I wiped around my mouth.

"The Sandlot," he answered. Sora and I got up too and thanked the Hikaru's for breakfast before heading out the door. It was a wondrous morning with the sky so clear and the air so fresh. We agreed to walk and get to know the area by foot instead of ruining it by being in a car, plus we were all still pretty sick of sitting for so long. The walk to the Sandlot seemed to take forever when it really only took fifteen minutes. When we got there, there was a large stage set in the middle and fliers about the Struggle posted all around the nearby walls.

"Geez, this Struggle thing is huge," I said. Before anyone could say anything, the rest of the group came from one of the three entrance.

"Hey guys!" Selphie called out. We waved and walked over to them.

"Wow, talk about good timing," Hayner called out as he came through yet another entrance. Hayner, Olette, and Pence walked toward the rest of us.

"So what are we going to do?" Alexa asked.

"Well, personally, I just want to go explore the city," Wakka said.

"Same here," Tidus agreed. A few of the others wanted to do the same.

"Okay, we can always meet up later," Sora said. Wakka, Lulu, Tidus, Yuna, Blake, Alexa, Irvine, Selphie, Lissa, and Josh went together in one big group.

"I think I want to look over here," Kyle said looking through another entrance, opposite of the one the others went through.

"I'll go with you," Chris said.

"Same here," Casey nodded and followed the boys. Left behind was Sora, Roxas, Jenna, Hayner, Olette, Pence, Namine, Cloud, Amanda, Riku, and me.

"So now what?" Jenna asked.

"How about we show them the usual spot?" Pence suggested.

"Sounds okay to me," Hayner and Olette agreed. Roxas led the way toward the exit that led to the ally way where the group hangs out.

"Well, well, well. Look at who we just happened to bump into," a girls voice said. We all turned around to see eight people walking in through one of the many entrances. I couldn't believe who I was seeing and I could tell by some of the others reactions, they were too. Shawn, Christy, Amber, Lily, Cindy, Sarah, Jake, and Tyler were heading our way.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I heard Sora say behind me.

"What are you doing here?" Riku asked with a glare.

"We're here on vacation, what are you doing here?" Shawn asked.

"This is Roxas's hometown. We're visiting and we're also on vacation," I answered.

"Why are you in our sandlot?" Hayner glared, taking a stand. The other group merely laughed, except for a few. Our group returned the laughter with stares or glares. There was a small chuckle and a few footstep entering into the sandlot through one of the entries. Everyone turned to look.

"What do you mean, _your _sandlot?" a voice said. We couldn't quite see who it was yet.

"This is our hang out, y'know?" another voice said after.

"Beat it," this time a monotone female voice was heard. Finally the three came into view. I quickly realized who one was, so I moved behind Sora a little but enough to still see. One was a tall blonde with a black beanie, a long, white, sleeveless coat, a dark blue shirt under it, and dark gray-ish colored pants with boots. Next to him was a tall, muscular, black-haired boy with an orange-red, sleeveless shirt, black baggy pants, wrist bands on each wrist, and a lightening bolt charm on a chain necklace. The monotone girl was skinny, had purple-white hair, a dark purple sleeveless, zip-up shirt and tan capri pants with light purple shoes.

"Who the heck do you think you are?" Cloud asked. He also knew exactly who these people were; along with Jenna. The boy with the beanie on his head laughed.

"I own this sandlot," he replied.

"You don't own anything," Roxas said angrily. Everyone from our group looked at him and the three took a better look at the blonde.

"You know him?" Amanda asked.

"You're wrong, Roxas," the leader of this little group crossed his arms.

"I take that as a yes..." Amanda said aloud but mainly to herself.

"What do _you _own?" Roxas glared.

"The Struggle champion title as of summer," the leader said. I took a good look at him and realized there was a light scar on the right side of his face that started in between his eyebrows, by his eye , along his nose, and down toward his check.

"We'll be taking that role over this season," Pence said only causing more laughter.

"Hey!" Sarah waved at the three. The two boys and girl looked toward the other group.

"Ah, you're here."

"Yeah," Josh's sister hugged the leader. I was shocked that they knew each other.

"What's going on?" Sora asked, completely confused, along with most of the group.

"We came here to meet up with these three. Sarah knows them from when she lived in Star City," Cindy said flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"You know them?" the leader asked looking our way.

"Yeah, we all go to school together and we live by each other too," Shawn replied.

"How do you know Roxas and his little friends?" he asked looking our way.

"Roxas is my cousin," Sora answered. The leader started to head our way with his friends and the other group close behind him. His white jacket was flowing behind him.

"Yeah, I can see the resemblance. That must mean you're just as dumb, huh?"

"What's _that _supposed to mean!" Sora said taking a step forward. I quickly grabbed his arm.

"Sora, no," I said. The leader looked at me before his eyes opened wider and a smirk found its way onto his face. '_Oh no_.' I thought.

"Kairi...?" he said. Everyone looked at me surprised.

"How do you know him?" Olette asked. I sighed and stepped forward to face him.

"Yeah, Seifer, it's me," I said.

"Huh, long time no see," Seifer replied. Cloud and Jenna stood next to me. "I see you still hang out with _these _two."

"Yeah, I do," I said looking past him to see the expressions of the others. Sarah had her mouth slightly open and Shawn had his arms crossed staring.

"How do you two know each other?" Roxas asked as he stepping up. Seifer was about to speak but I turned around and replied quicker.

"I'll tell you guys in private."

"Why wait Kairi?" Seifer put his arm around me. I could see Sora's eyes narrow which caused me to shake off his arm. "You know everyone will find out eventually."

"Find out what?" Namine asked.

"Well-" I was quickly cut off.

"Kairi and me used to be an item," Seifer smiled. It fell so silent that I could literally hear my heart beating loudly. I took in everything that was around me because I knew this was Diary material. Sora seemed like he didn't know what to say. Roxas, Hayner, Olette, and Pence were still surprised we even knew each other. Namine and Amanda just stared while Cloud and Jenna sighed to themselves and showed their sympathy. I turned around to see Seifer smirking wide, his two lackeys who I clearly remember now, Rai and Fuu were just standing there with bored faces. Shawn's eyes were wider and Christy seemed to frown. Amber, Lily, Jake, and Tyler didn't seem to know how to react. Sarah and Cindy's mouths were dropped open.

"Is this true?" Olette asked.

"Yeah," I frowned as I turned around to face my friends again. I heard Seifer chuckle behind me. I glared and turned to face him again. He wasn't too far away from my face, so I was able to see his scar better. "Hey, Seifer, how'd you get that scar?" I smirked. His eyes narrowed and leaned in.

"Well if you didn't throw that picture frame at me..." he answered.

"You deserved it." I turned around and walked passed all of my friends. Everyone followed me through the entryway, leaving Seifer and his new gang behind.

—

After a short while, we found the rest of the group. We decided to fill them in on what had happened back at the Sandlot. Roxas and his friends suggested taking the train to Sunset Terrace. They figured we should go to Sunset Hill where we could see everything and get the privacy we needed for me to explain the whole Seifer thing.

When we got there, it was such a change in scenery compared to Destiny City. The sky was splashed with orange, yellows, pinks, and dark purple again. From Sunset Hill, you could see the train track and the whole city. It was beautiful and definitely the best place to pour out my past. We all sat down, no one facing each other but out at the view. Kyle sat closest to the walkway, followed by Chris, Casey, Jenna, Cloud, Namine, myself, Sora, Riku, Amanda, Roxas, Hayner, Olette, Pence, Irvine, Selphie, Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, Blake, Alexa, Lissa, and Josh sat on the other side of the walkway.

"So what happened?" Selphie asked.

"Well..." I began.

_**Flashback to beginning of Sophomore year**_

Cloud, Jenna, Kyle, Casey, Josh, Chris, and me went to a blitzball game between Twilight Town High and Star High. I headed over to the food stand to get a slice of pizza. I stood there by the window and waited for the pizza to finish cooking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tall blonde haired boy with dark sea-green eyes walk by me and order a slice of pizza too. '_He's cute..._' I thought laughing to myself as I turned to see the crowd moving around.

"Ahem," said the voice behind me. I turned around to see the boy staring at me. I gave him a questioning look. "What's so funny?"

"Uh, nothing," I blushed. He scooted forward and leaned against the counter facing me.

"You know, I don't think I've ever met you before," he said before extending his hand out to me. "The name's Seifer."

"Kairi," I said placing my hand in his as I smiled shyly. The ding in the kitchen went off letting the workers know the pizza was done cooking.

"Nice to meet you." He kissed the top of my hand before letting go. I blushed madly and nodded before I took the pizza that was handed to me and walked away.

"He's so cute!" I exclaimed happily to Jenna and Cloud. "His eyes are so amazing, too."

"You know nothing about this guy, Kai. How do you know he's boyfriend material?" she asked me.

"That's the thing, I don't," I sighed.

"I don't know, Kairi. I wouldn't suggest this guy. He doesn't seem right for you," Cloud said stretching.

"Well, I want to get to know him before we start assuming things," I declared.

"You're call, not ours." Cloud crossed his arms. "But if we find anything we don't like about him, we're not going to just sit here and let you fall. Got it?"

"Got it," I smiled hugging both of them.

It had been about a month since Seifer and me had met and we began to hang out more and more. Seifer would call me every night and we would talk for a few hours each time. He would drive from Twilight Town every chance he could to visit me. He took me out to the best restaurant in Star City one night for a date.

"Thanks again for bringing me here. It's wonderful," I smiled as I ate my food.

"Anytime," he smiled back. "You know, Kairi, I think it's time we should take our friendship to the next level."

"Really?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah," Seifer nodded. "Will you be my girlfriend?" I could help but smile and nod shyly.

"Of course." He stood up and gave me my first kiss.

—

"I can't believe you two are dating," Cloud said on a three-way phone call between him, Jenna and me.

"You guys, he's super sweet and he really does care about me. You should give him a chance," I persisted.

"Kairi, you only know him around here. You haven't seen him in his actual surrounding. He could be a completely different person in Twilight Town," Jenna told me.

"No, I think I know Seifer well enough by now to know who the real person is," I explained. "He told me that he has a few enemies in Twilight Town and that they try to pick fights with them every once in a while, but honestly, who doesn't have enemies now-a-days?"

"I don't know Kairi," Jenna spoke up. "I say we should go to Twilight Town and figure out the real him."

"I don't think he's telling you everything," Cloud said.

"Whatever," I said staring at the ceiling.

—

"My baby girl," he said to me, smiling after five months. I hugged him tight. He was the only one who I ever considered dating, trying to forget Sora back in Destiny City. Sora probably had forgotten all about me and moved on; not like we were ever anything more then just friends. Plus, it was in fifth grade that I had last seen or spoke to him.

"My nickname, right?" I asked, looking up into his dark sea green eyes. A smirk planted its way onto this face.

"Forever and always," he said kissing my forehead.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"That's good to know," I said putting my head on his strong chest. _'He's no good for you. You can do so much better then that Kai. I know him. He's bad news_.' Cloud's voice played in my head. I sighed hugging him tighter knowing Cloud would never let it go.

Seifer and me had been dating for about eight months now (end of May) and things seemed never better. I was supposed to be meeting him at a nearby park in Star City. I was walking down the street when Jenna came out of her house.

"Hey Kai," Jenna smiled, pulling her blonde hair back from her face. "Where's your lover boy?" I laughed slightly.

"Ha, ha, ha. Funny. Truthfully, I really don't know," I answered looking for him

"Well, let's go look for him, I guess," Jenna linked her arm with mine. We both started joking around and laughing about pointless things as always when we were together. I heard an awfully girly laugh come from around the corner of the busy sidewalk of Star City. I don't know why but it stood out so much more the all the other people chatting around us. I came to a complete stop once around the corner.

"Huh?"

"What is it?" Jen asked looking at me. I ignored her question and looked at a sight I didn't want to see or even thought I would ever see. There he was, my boyfriend, leaning over a girl who had her back to the wall and was laughing. He was smirking as he placed his right hand on the wall behind her to balance himself, while he put his left hand on her cheek.

"What are you laughing at, baby girl?" he asked in that flirtatious voice he used to charm me into liking him.

"You being silly, that's all," the girl giggled. My heart felt like it was being ripped at the seams.

"Oh, Kairi," Jenna's voice said into my ear as I felt like I was going to cry. Cloud was right. He was bad news.

"I-I-I thought it was only my nickname," I said quietly as I turned around and ran. Jenna wasn't far behind me, calling my name. "He promised me..."

—

"Kairi! Someone's here to see you! I have to get to work. I'll see you later!" my mom called to me. I heard the front door close and someone walking up the stairs. My door opened a little more. I was sitting on my bed facing my window which was away from the door.

"Kairi?" Seifer's voice came behind me. I quickly wiped away my tears.

"I saw you," I whispered as he sat down next to me.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I was meaning to tell you today." I looked at him.

"Tell me what?" My voice was quivering but angry. "Tell me that you were seeing someone else?" Seifer looked away before looking at me.

"Kairi, I don't think we'll be able to work out. I found someone else," he told me as he put his arm around my shoulders. I stood up quickly as he did so. Tears were streaming out of my eyes.

"Get out," I said in a harsh whisper.

"But Kairi, listen to me."

"Get out, Seifer," my voice rising a little more. I walked over to my desk that had a picture of him and me when we first started dating in a pretty picture frame he bought for it. I picked it up and stared at it.

"Kairi..." he stood up and I turned to face him.

"GET OUT!" I yelled throwing the picture frame at him. It hit his face between his eyebrows and the frame scratched down the bridge of his nose to part of his cheek where it fell to the floor. The glass shattered as Seifer yelled to himself as he grasped his face.

"What the hell, Kairi!" he yelled at me.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" I screamed as I pushed him toward my door. "I never want to see you again!" Seifer glared at me and stormed out of my room, down the stairs and out the front door. I walked over to my window with the tears still streaming. I saw the same girl who he called baby girl, run over to Seifer moving his hand and gasping. My window was slightly open so I could hear them talking.

"Oh my goodness, what happened?" the girl said.

"It's okay, Sarah," Seifer looked up toward my window. "Let's get out of here."

_**End of Flashback**_

"Wow..." Amanda said quietly.

"Kairi, I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me that you had a horrible relationship?" Sora scooted toward my way and put his arms around me. I leaned my head against his shoulder.

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to forget the whole thing ever happened," I admitted.

"Wait, did you say Sarah?" Josh said standing up. We all looked at him as I nodded. "You can't be talking about my stepsister." My eyes widened and I realized that the same girl who was with Seifer was the same girl as Josh's stepsister.

"Oh my god..." I said to myself. Everyone got up together. "It is! That stupid bitch has ruined one relation and then tried again with mine and Sora's!"

"Okay, this really just makes me want to battle Seifer even more," Roxas said.

"Let's do it," Hayner agreed. "Let's battle him in the Struggle." Roxas and Hayner nodded and did some strange handshake that obviously showed they'd work together.

"I want in on it," Sora said. I could tell that he was kind of angry as he stood up.

"Let's go then!" Blake said. We all ran down to the train station to get back to the Sandlot. By the time we got there, there were already a number of people who were hanging around. There was a table in the middle of the stage. Sora, Roxas, and Hayner walked on stage and go figure, on the opposite side of the stage, Shawn and Seifer were walking to the sign up table too.

"What are you doing?" Shawn said staring at the boys.

"Signing up to battle, what does it look like?" Sora glared as he wrote his name down. Seifer laughed and stood next to him to write his own name down on another sheet.

"Bring. It. On." Seifer taunted him as Sora and himself stood to face each other.

"You'll regret everything you've ever done," Sora said getting in his face.

"You'll regret facing me in the competition," Seifer spat back. Sora and him were about a foot away from each other. I looked down and noticed Sora's hands close into tight fists. Seifer smirked and took a step forward.

**A/N**: Ah, wonderful long chapter. So you guys found out Kairi's ex boyfriend was a loser. Now Sora, Roxas, and Hayner are going to battle their enemies, Shawn and Seifer. Next chapter is going to be interesting. So there are a total of four chapters left of Dear Diary 2. Aw, it's finally coming to an end. Well, I wanna hear your reviews!

Also! I have a **new site up**... it's based entirely on the Dear Diary series (1-3). I'm not completely done but you guys can go check it out. It's on my authors page. Hope you like it!

**Important Note on Last Chapter!** On another note that whole "Who gets to be in the last chapter thing" I know some people have stopped reviewing so we're starting over. _**If you want to be in the last chapter**_, send me a **REVIEW** -_not a message_- giving yourself a **NAME **and a **SHORT **description of yourself. I don't care about the ages anymore and who you're friends with. I'll take the info up until chapter 30 **ONLY**. Thank you.


	29. Spring Break prt 2

**A/N**: Thanks for the reviews, as always! You people make me smile! Now onto the 29th chapter! **Warning**! Something big is going to happen in this chapter and I bet many of you weren't expecting it to happen... Just letting you know, be prepared for anything!

**Chapter 29**- Spring Break prt 2

"Sora, let's just go," I said as Riku and me got on the stage to break up the potential fight that could happen any second between him and my ex boyfriend, Seifer. Sora huffed and jumped off the stage. He stormed away angrily. The rest of the group followed. I stood behind and stared at Seifer who had his arms crossed and was smirking. I couldn't believe I had ever dated someone like him.

"Come on, Kai," Roxas said as Hayner jumped off the stage. "We should go." He put his arm on my back to lead me off the stage and through a few people. I shook my head and followed the boys who were chasing after the group.

"What I would do to that stupid... urg!" Sora vented his anger as we walked to Market Street. I began to rub his back to try to relax him.

"How about we get Sea-salt ice cream?" Olette suggested.

"Sea what ice cream?" Wakka said eyeing her funny considering 'salt' and ice cream in the same sentence just sounded kind of gross.

"Sea-salt ice cream," Pence said. "It's so good. You have to try it!" We all walked over to a booth. Pence leaned in and said, "Could I get... uh.." He looked at all of us and began to point and count in his head. "Twenty-four Sea-salt ice creams?" The people inside the booth got wide-eyed but nodded.

We all put in our money and paid for the ice cream bars as they were passed out from the booth window and down the group of friends. When I got mine, I stared at it before slowly sticking my tongue out to try the light blue colored frozen treat. The taste was nothing like I've tried before.

"Mmm," Amanda said sticking part of the bar in her mouth like a little kid.

"Salty," Casey said taking a lick.

"But," Kyle licked his ice cream before thinking of the right word.

"Sweet," Jenna finished as she began to lick the goodness.

"This tastes really good," Alexa said. We all nodded in agreement as we began to adapt to the new flavor.

"See, told you," Pence smiled.

"Hey, Kairi?" Namine said tapping my shoulder. I turned around to face her. "Want to go walk around?"

"Sure," I nodded. I looked back at everyone else. "We'll meet up with you guys later, 'kay?"

"Okay." Sora leaned in for a kiss before Namine and me started to walk away. We both licked our sea-salt ice cream as we explored the town. There were so many people out today and we figured it was because of the Struggle sign ups.

"So how come you never told me about Seifer?" Namine decided to ask after a while.

"Because I really didn't want to remember him. I figured since I was moving back to Destiny City, I should leave my past behind and start fresh," I explained.

"Sounds reasonable," she nodded.

"Yeah... Seifer seemed so sweet when we first met and that's what made me so nervous to tell Sora my feelings. I didn't want to be played again."

"That's understandable. Sometimes risks must be taken and sometimes you have to fall to make you stronger."

"I like that saying," I smiled and she smiled back. Nam and I continued to walk around until we came upon this large coffee house with posters scattered on the inside of the windows. The posters said 'Twilight Battle of the Bands.'

"Five hundred dollars reward for first place," I read.

"And two hundred for second. One hundred for third," Namine said.

"Wow, that's great," I exclaimed. "We should tell the others."

"That'd be fun. When is it?" We both looked at the posters.

"Friday night at six. Deadline sign-ups are tomorrow at five." I looked at my cell phone. "It's three. We should get the others here." I pulled out my phone and called Wakka, explaining the battle of the bands competition. He figured this would be a great way to expand the existence of One Destiny. Him and the others agreed to meet up with us here at the Common Grounds Coffee House as soon as they could. Namine and I decided to sit inside and see what the atmosphere was like. About fifteen minutes after ordering our drinks and sitting down, the group walked in.

"Wow, this place is huge," Tidus said looking around. Wakka sat down at the table next to us and turned to face me.

"So we're going to sign up, but I have no idea what songs are going to be sung," he said.

"How about that song we've been practicing for a while, 'What I Want' by Chris Daughtry?" Sora suggested.

"That'd be really good," Riku agreed.

"How the heck would we be in it? It's not exactly a song for us three," Namine said pointing to herself, Amanda, and me.

"That's a good point," Wakka said. We all sat round trying to think of a solution when a guy dressed in a casual outfit with a red Common Grounds Café apron on. He coughed, clearing his throat, making us notice him. We looked up to see the middle aged man.

"Excuse me, I over heard your conversation and I hear that you three needed to find something to do," he said looking at Nam, Amanda, and me. We just stared at him. "Oh sorry, I'm Jason Tact. I'm the owner."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled as he extended his hand out toward one of us. I reached up and placed my hand in his. "I'm Kairi, this is Namine and Amanda."

"Nice to meet you too," he returned the smile. "Well, we honestly don't have anyone to announce the bands and to announce the awards. I'm willing to pay if you're up to it."

"Really?" Namine smiled. He nodded.

"We'll take it!" Amanda declared.

"Thank you so much," Jason Tact said nodding his head. "If you could come an hour or two earlier, I'd appreciate it."

"Thank you. We'll be here," I told him. He waved and went to go attend to some other costumers who had just walked in. I turned back to the rest of the group.

"Well that makes it easy. Now we all have something to do," Sora said standing behind me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and carefully massaged it.

"We'll be here to cheer you on as always," Selphie smiled.

"Like good friends," Josh added. We all smiled at each other. This was going to be a fun and exciting experience; I could feel it.

'Today's the day!" Roxas cheered running down the sidewalk. Sora and me were running after him. "Come on!"

"Roxas! You're going to wear yourself out before we even get there!" Sora called after him.

"There's no time to loose!" with that said, the blond ran faster. His cousin began to gain speed as he moved forward, away from me.

"Oh my goodness!" I yelled at both of them. "You two need to chill out!"

"No time!" Roxas said running around a corner and disappearing from sight before Sora did the same. I sighed and started to slow down as I came to the same corner. Many voices were cheering and yelling out random names not too far away. Today was the Struggle competition and Roxas was more excited than any of us expected he would be. Finally, I walked to see the Sandlot full of spectators who were anxiously waiting for the Struggle to begin. All of our friends were on one of the four sides you could stand on while the other group was on the opposite side.

"Okay, the battle is about to begin," a tall guy with semi-long blond hair said into a microphone on stage. "Will all contestants walk onto stage and grab a Struggle Club." We all waved Sora, Roxas, and Hayner off as the three walked together up stage. They were each handed a blue foam club with a gold handle. On the other side, the other group was cheering Shawn, Seifer and Jake on as they received their clubs.

"First to battle," the announcer said as he looked down at a note card. "Hayner verses Setzer!" The crowd went wild. "Two locals from Twilight Town are about to battle it out today as the first Struggle of the Spring competition!" The rest of the contestants walked off stage and sat on the benches next to the scoreboard. A heavyset man walked on stage as the announcer handed him the microphone.

"Rules. Remember, be fair! No hitting above the shoulders. No hitting in inappropriate spots. There is no time limit. As soon as you start to feel like you cannot take another hit or swing, lift your club in the air and call out 'End'. Who ever lasts longest will be moving onto the next around," he called out looking at Hayner and Setzer and the rest of the crowd. He stepped off stage and handed the mic to the announcer.

"Cross your clubs!" he yelled. Hayner and Setzer did as they were told. "Ready?" The two got into fighting stance with their clubs like baseball bats. "Fight!" The two charged at each other hitting their clubs with one another. The crowd was cheering for both sides. Our crowd was constantly yelling 'Go Hayner!', 'You can do it!', 'Win it!'. It was an exciting experience. I was wondering how long this would last since there wasn't a time limit.

After about twenty minutes, Setzer was knocked to the ground. He stared up at Hayner who was pointing his club at him. Hayner was breathing heavily and I could tell he was tired. The announcer walked on stage with the microphone in his hand.

"Hayner wins the first match!" he yelled as the crowd cheered. Being a good person, Hayner helped Setzer up. The older contestant looked down at his opponent, nodded once, than walked down the stairs. Hayner walked down the opposite stairs toward us. Roxas, Pence, and Olette cheered and hugged their best friends.

"Way to go man!" Roxas said patting his buddy on the back. Hayner grinned as Olette handed him a water bottle.

"Thanks," Hayner nodded.

"Up next!" the announcer said looking down at his note card. "Sora, cousin of last Spring's Struggle winner, Roxas. Sora's up against a local from here, Jay!" I kissed Sora before he went up the stairs. His competitor was a short, black haired boy that looked younger than the age requirement. Sora and Jay took their clubs and got ready to battle. Once the announcer told them to fight, it took about five minutes before Jay was down. Sora helped him up and shook his hand.

"That was way too easy," Sora said as he came up toward us. I hugged him anyway.

"The next two to fight are," the young male said. "Roxas vs Vivi!" Roxas went up to battle on stage against another short competitor. He had a dark blue jacket on with an old, withering, tan hat that shadowed his face. (**A/N**: You kind of have to imagine a short person dressed like the Vivi we know because honestly, Vivi's real self wouldn't work in this story.) "Ready, fight!" Vivi and Roxas went at it strongly. Vivi's look was completely deceiving because he was a really good fighter. This fight was a lot longer than the others. A little after half an hour, Vivi was knocked down and Roxas was declared the winner.

The next few battles weren't too long but not too short either. Seifer ending up beating his contestant, Rio, who was a local from Star City that none of us knew. Shawn went up against his buddy, Tyler and won the match. Jake, Shawn's other friend, also beat his competitor, Lo who was a local from some other island.

We took about a fifteen minute break before we started the second round to get closer to determining who was going to be the Spring Struggle competition. The next two to fight in the second round were Sora verses Shawn which I knew many of us were anticipating (**A/N**: As I'm sure most of you are too). Sora walked on stage staring straight at Shawn who was doing the same toward Sora. They both received their Struggle clubs and stood before each other with the announcer next to them. He instructed the two to join their clubs and get ready to battle. Sora and Shawn both took to the fighting stance quickly. As soon as the announcer walked off the stage and called "Go," the boys were at it.

Sora looked so determined to beat his enemy. Shawn was putting up a good battle too. The whole group was staring intensely. I noticed that Shawn's friends were staring at their leader as Shawn dodged swings from Sora and tried to hit him. Sora was swift when it came to missing the flying club. The crowd was going wild behind us since this was a pretty good fight. I was so anxious to see who would win and I was nervous as to if Sora would get hurt by Shawn. This battle had been going on for quite some time. Before I even realized it, Shawn fell to his back staring up at Sora with the dirtiest look as Sora's club was just inches from the light brown haired boy's face.

"Winner!" the announcer yelled holding up Sora's spare arm. The crowd cheered happily. I jumped up and down clapping as Sora walked off the stage with a smile on his face.

"I'm so glad you one!" I said hugging him. He laughed hugging me too.

"Way to go, Sora, you totally kicked his ass!" Wakka said. Everyone else congratulated Sora in their own way. I looked across the stage to see Shawn's friends patting his back as he crossed his arms and glared our way.

"Next up will be Roxas and Jake!" the Struggle announcer said.

"Good luck," Namine said as Roxas walked on the platform ready to battle another of the other groups friends. Jake looked strong and all but it was pretty obvious who was going to be the winner of this fight. Probably about 10 to 15 minutes into the fight, Jake was done. Of course everyone cheered on their favorite competitor.

The next two to go onto the second round was Hayner and Seifer. It was always the good verses the bad. I could feel the hatred off the two as they got ready to fight each other. Natural born enemies was pretty much the situation in this case. As soon as they had the right to fight, Seifer moved quickly and hit Hayner who had the wind knocked out of him. He stumbled back a bit but it just seemed to spark his anger. Hayner flew at him with full force but unfortunately, Seifer was able to block it. The two boys seemed really competitive which was completely understandable. Half an hour into the game, Seifer easily defeated Hayner. The dirty blond haired boy pounded his fists onto the wooden stage.

"That was a good fight," Pence told his buddy.

"You did good," Olette tried to cheer him up.

"But I didn't win!" Hayner argued sighing.

Roxas patted his back. "You did your best. There wasn't anything you could do about it," he said.

"But I wanted to beat his ass so bad!"

"We're going to take a five minute break to let Seifer catch his breath. Sora and Seifer, you're up next," the announcer said. Sora turned to face us. I looked up at my boyfriend who seemed satisfied by who his next competitor would be. His ocean blue eyes narrowed as he glanced over to where Seifer was. We all pep talked Sora and got him ready to fight my ex boyfriend. Eventually the five minutes were up and Sora got on stage with the announcer and Seifer. I had to admit, seeing my boyfriend and my ex boyfriend together was really nerve wrecking. Once given the okay, Sora and Seifer's clubs clashed into each other's. They were both putting in a lot of strength.

From where we were, it looked like Seifer was taunting Sora. I was kind of frustrated that I couldn't hear what he had to say but Sora looked pissed. Five minutes had passed with no real progresses but by the looks of it, Seifer and Sora were still talking. Sora ran across the stage full force at Seifer. He dropped the blue foamed club to the ground and punched Seifer right in the face. Seifer fell to the ground with a hard thud. His club dropped out of his hand as he grasped his eye.

"Disqualification!" the announcer declared running on the stage as Sarah, Fuu, and Rai to help Seifer. Sora smiled triumphantly and walked off the stage toward us. The crowd seemed shocked. Many cheered but a lot booed too, not too many people were expecting that to happen either.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Riku said shocked.

"Way to go!" Tidus cheered.

"What made you do that?" I asked completely stunned.

"Seifer was making comments about how he could get you back in a heartbeat if he really wanted to and such. He was just pissing me off, that's all. I needed to get anger out anyway," Sora smiled. "You never deserved what he did to you, Kai. Let's just say I got your revenge for you."

I couldn't help but hug him. He was a great boyfriend and it was clear to the world that he cared a lot about me. "Thank you." I kissed his cheek.

"Now I leave it to you to get your revenge, Roxas," Sora said to his cousin. I saw that same smirk that Sora had appear on Roxas's face. I peered over to the other side of the stage to see the other group checking to see if Seifer was okay or not. He seemed to be angry as he glanced our way. After a couple of minutes, Seifer was ready to fight against Roxas. They both walked on stage and faced each other. As soon as they hit clubs, they were at each others throats.

Roxas and Seifer went at hit strong and both of them were determined to show who was the real champion of the Struggle. The fight was a strong and intense one; the longest battle of the day so far. I sat down on the bench behind me wondering who was going to win since at this rate, I honestly couldn't tell. Roxas charged at his enemy and swung his club at Seifer arm that was holding his own club. It flung back behind him. Roxas pointed the tip of his club at Seifer as the sea-green eyed teen backed up slowly. Roxas's eyes were angry as he watched Seifer back up before he tripped over his fallen club. Seifer hit the ground and grabbed the club, holding it up.

"End," he said quietly before growling in anger.

"Roxas is this year's Spring Struggle winner!" The announcer ran on stage along with the rest of our group. Hayner and Sora lifted Roxas onto their shoulders as the crowd cheered wildly for Roxas. Off the nearby buildings, multi-colored confetti was falling onto us. A pretty, young woman held up the Four Crystal Trophy to Roxas who took it with pride. I was cheering happily as I watched Seifer storm off the stage and walk away with his closest friends following behind.

"Kairi, can I talk to you?" A hand grasped my shoulder and I quickly turned around to see Shawn standing behind me. The crowd was slowly disappearing but there were many people still talking to Roxas.

"Where are all your friends?" I asked suspiciously.

"I told them I wanted to look around town," Shawn said putting his hands in his pockets. I looked back to see my friends busy talking before looking back Shawn.

"What do you want to talk about?" I crossed my arms and leaned against the stage.

"It's kind of personal and private. So would it be all right if we go somewhere, other than here?"

"I guess..." I said still unsure if this was a trap or not. "I'll go tell my friends that I'll meet up with them tonight. "Meet me in that ally," I said pointing to one opposite of where I was standing. Shawn nodded and walked that way. Once he was out of site, I went up to where my friends were.

"Hey," Sora said smiling. "What's up?"

"I'm gonna go explore the town," I told him.

"I'll go with you."

"No, no. You stay here and I'll just meet up with you guys tonight at dinner," I smiled.

"You sure?" Sora asked. I nodded and walked toward the ally where Shawn was standing. We talked together through the town without saying anything. Once we were quite a distance away from the Sand Lot, I decided to finally ask again.

"So... you wanted to talk?" I said as we sat down on a wooden beach that over looked part of the ocean and most of the town.

"Yeah," he said simply.

"What about?" I put my hands in my lap as Shawn faced me.

"Kairi, I really do like you but I don't want you to get offended by the fact that I was kind of using you," Shawn sighed. This was it, he was finally going to fess up about me not being his real love.

"What do you mean?" I knew exactly what he meant but I had to pretend I didn't.

"I like someone else and I've liked her for I don't know how long." He looked out at the sunset since it was getting that time of day.

"Who is it?" I asked curiously. I've been wanting to know this since Amber and Lily mentioned that he liked someone I knew.

"Its..." Shawn sat there for a bit which was making me more anxious. "Christy."

"Christy..." I sat there for a second as I let it sink it. "Wow...but she pretty much despises you."

"I know," he frowned. "The reason I did most the things I did to you was to try to impress her and since Sora had her once and had you, I figured I'd try to see what it was like to be him. Me taking you away from Sora only made Christy hate me. I never wanted that."

"Tell her," I said.

"Tell her?" Shawn questioned. "That I like her?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, that you're really an alien from outer space," I said sarcastically. "Yes, that you like her."

"I can't do that. She'd never feel the same way. I've envied Sora because he has everything. I know what Christy had done to you two wasn't all that kind but I mean, there's something about her that makes me crazy."

"Try it. You'll never know how she feels unless you admit to it." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"How can I tell her? I don't know how to make it special." I thought about this question for a bit trying to think of a great way for Shawn to admit his feelings for Christy. Suddenly, it hit me.

"Do the battle of the bands," I smiled. "It'd be great! Dedicate a song to her!"

"I can't sing that good or play the guitar really," Shawn said raising an eyebrow. "That'd never work."

"Oh trust me, you can sing and play great," I said remembering when I had been dating Shawn earlier this year. I was walking down the hall past Shawn's room when I heard a guitar and a really good voice singing to the song that was playing. I stood in front of the door and listened when Amber came out of her room. I told her that Shawn was listening to some good music when Amber told me that it was Shawn was the music.

"When and where's the battle of the bands?" Shawn was clearly skeptical. I grabbed a hold of his hand and drug him in the direction of the Common Grounds Café. "What song am I going to sing?"

"What song do you hear on the radio or play that makes you think of her?" I asked as we ran down the sidewalk.

"Honesty by Cartel," he yelled after me.

"Then sing that!" We ran together and I introduced him to the manager before Shawn signed up for the Battle of the Bands. As soon as he placed his name down on the paper, he looked up at me and smiled. I returned it knowing that maybe this could be the start of a new possible trust in friendship.

"Welcome!" Jason Tact said in his Common Grounds Café apron. He waved to the people crowded into the large coffee house. There was another room where all the bands were talking things over with the other members while, Amanda, Namine, and I stood just off to the side of the stage. "Tonight, we welcome many fabulous bands and solo artists from all around the Destiny Islands. As many of you know, first place wins $500, $200 for second, and $100 for third. There are a couple of hidden judges in the audience who will inform me of the top three choices. Once the three bands are picked, you guys get to decide who wins." The crowd began to cheer and clap as Amanda, Namine, and me walked in front of the large group of people. I scanned the crowd to see all of our friends bunched up in a corner watching intently. On the opposite side of Common Grounds were Seifer and the rest of that group.

"Now please, let's welcome the first band," Namine said. " Sparkles!"

From the back door, four guys walked on stage wearing all dark leather. Their hair was dark, along with their makeup. I couldn't help but stare at this group and think of the name. '_Wow_...' I wasn't expecting a band with this _look _to have a name like _Sparkles_. '_Whatever floats their boat, I suppose_.' The girls and me walked off stage to let the band introduce themselves.

The next couple bands that performed were Letera and Danger-Zone before One Destiny appeared. Amanda, Namine, and me cheered as our boys set up on stage. Wakka stood in front with a microphone in hand. I watched him carefully.

"Good evening," Wakka said to the Common Grounds audience. "We're One Destiny and I'd like to dedicate this song we're about to sing to my beautiful girlfriend, Lulu." I looked over to see Lulu put her hand to her mouth and her eyes widen. A smile slowly appeared as she clasped her necklace that he had given her. "This one is called _Wonderful One_."

_So throw it down Cleveland rain_

_The queen of love has flown again_

_To seek her daughter_

_Who must lie beside the thief_

_Whose golden tongue she will believe_

_Defies the orderOh - that is why _

_Shall we dance and never stop_

_Take my hand and stop the clock_

_From turning over_

_Spirit weave and spirit bend_

_In the move that has no end_

_That we must follow_

_Oh - that is why_

_Show me your eyes, O light of the sun_

_Touch me with fire - my mind is undone_

_All life inspire - my freedom has come_

_I drift through desire - my wonderful one_

_When you do what you do_

_I can never, never, never let you go_

_When you feel the way you feel_

_You can never, never, never let it show_

_Show me your eyes_

The crowd was very pleased as they clapped happily. I looked back at Lulu who seemed to be wiping away tears. Wakka smiled at his girlfriend and mouthed 'I love you.' to her in which she replied. One Destiny walked back stage while the girls and me walked in front of the crowd again.

"Next up, we'd like to present a newbie to the big music scene," I said knowing who it was going to be. "The Truth!" Amanda, Namine, and I looked in the direction of the backroom to see Shawn and a few other members walk on stage. Everyone seemed quite surprised when Shawn took the microphone from me. He nodded with a small smile as I walked behind the scene where we normally stand.

"Hi," Shawn said nervously. It's always weird to me when he seems nervous since he give the impression of being outgoing. "Like Kairi said, I'm knew to singing in front of others but I do enjoy singing and playing my guitar. To get to the point, I wanted to dedicate this song to someone who I've been admiring for a while. Christy, this is for you." I heard a few gasps from the audience and when I looked over, Christy's eyes went big and many members of our friends and their friends stared between Shawn and her.

_Please don't mind what I'm trying to say 'cause I'm, I'm being honest_

_When I tell you that youYou're part of the reason I'm so set on the rest of my life_

_Being a part of you_

_You tell me what you think about being open,_

_About being honest with yourself_

_'__Cause things will never be the same. _

_So I guess I'll see you, I'll see you around_

_I'm spinning while I'm falling down_

_Now you know why I'm begging you to stay_

_And don't waste time getting to the point, 'cause I'm, I'm patiently waiting_

_For your next phone call, your next excuse for losing sleep again_

_Tell me what you think about being open,_

_About being honest with yourself_

_'Cause things will never be the same_

_So I guess I'll see you, I'll see you around_

_I'm spinning while I'm falling down_

_Now you know why I'm begging you to stay_

_'Cause I can't stop it now_

_It's so amazing how_

_I know I cant, I could never walk away_

_How can we resolve this now_

_We let it go, and wonder how_

_This can never be the same_

_Can never be the same_

_So I guess I'll see you, I'll see you around_

_I'm spinning while I'm falling down_

_Now you know why I'm begging you, I'm begging!_

_'Cause I can't stop it now,_

_It's so amazing how,_

_I know I cant, I could never walk away._

_Please don't mind what I'm trying to say, 'cause I'm, I'm being honest._

Everyone was happy to hear Shawn's talent. It was a very good performance and everyone clapped excitedly. Christy still seemed shocked but in a happy way. The rest of the night was very amusing and exciting. After about another hour and a half, it was time to announce the winners of Twilight Town's Battle of the Bands. The judges handing their nominees to Jason who handed it to us.

"Here, we have the three favorite bands that have played tonight," Amanda said to the crowd. She looked down at the paper with the three names of the bands. Namine and I looked as well.

"Please welcome back, Green Envy, One Destiny, and The Sins!" Namine clapped which led the rest of to, too. The group members of each band came on stage and gathered around us.

"Now, when we call out a band name, cheer for your favorite. Who ever gets the loudest is the winner," I said nodding.

"Green Envy!" Amanda called out. The crowd went wild. It was understandable that they would since Green Envy was a local teen band.

"The Sins!" Namine said next. Again, the audience voted by their clap.

"Last but not least, One Destiny!" I smiled. After the clapping for our band died down, the judges met together and decided who were the winners. The paper was handed to Jason and then up to us again. The three of us looked anxiously at the paper.

"Third runner up for Battle of the Bands is," I said staring at the paper. "The Sins!" The group members thanked us as Jason handed them a one hundred dollar check.

"Second runner up is One Destiny!" Amanda cheered. Wakka, Sora, Riku, Cloud, and Tidus received the two hundred dollar check.

"Leaving Green Envy as the winners of this years Battle of the Bands!" Namine clapped. Green Envy was cheered on as they, too, were handed their five hundred dollar check.

"Thank you everyone for participating. All the bands did great and hope to see you all again next year!" Jason Tact said into the microphone. "Good night!"

We had left Twilight Town just a couple days later. It was a fun and different trip compared to most. The group and I decided to head to Star City while Jenna, Casey, Chris, and Kyle went back to school. We had been in Star City for two days when I got a call that I wasn't expecting. Sora and the rest of the group were walking down the street while I slowed behind them so I could concentrate on my phone call.

"Kairi?" My mom's voice was quiet and unsteady.

"Mom, what is it?" I asked curiously, slowly my pace. The laughter of my friends started to become more distant. My mom sniffled into the phone. My heartbeat began to pick up as the thoughts of what she was upset about filled my mind.

"Something terrible happened."

"What is it?"

"Just come home."

"Mom, tell me," I said quietly.

"Elizabeth... she... she passed away last night in her sleep." I stopped in my tracks. The one person who would always listen to me and be there was now gone.

"Wha?" I fell to my knees as my vision grew blurry. Everything got numb and dull in my ears. In the distance I heard Sora call my name and through my hazy vision, I saw him and the others running my way.

We drove home later that night so we could attend Elizabeth's funeral a few days later. It was a partly cloudy day with all the ones who cared deeply about our elderly friend wore black and mourned as we listened to her doctor talk about how wonderful of a person she was. Sora held on to me while my mom gripped onto my hand tightly. Elizabeth's wooden casket was before us with flowers on top. All of this was so unexpected. After she was lowered into the ground, our group of friends said their final goodbye's before heading home.

"Are you Sora and Kairi?" a tall man in a suit said to us. I remembered him from the first few times I had met Elizabeth. He was her lawyer.

"Yes," Sora answered for us since I didn't speak.

"Please follow me." Sora and me followed the man into a nearby building. We walked into an office with a desk, a cozy chair behind it and two in front of it with a small television placed at the end of the desk. Sora and me sat down in the two seats while Elizabeth's lawyer sat in the other chair.

"Why are we here?" Sora asked. He reached for my hand which I placed in his.

"Elizabeth left a message for the two of you last week. She told me to show it to you two at her funeral," he told us. Hearing this, I figured Elizabeth knew she was dying which made it harder knowing that she never told us. The lawyer put in a tape and turned on the television. It was static at first but soon Elizabeth's face appeared on the screen. She was sitting in a hospital bed and looked dreadful. My eyes began to tear up but I wanted to listen intently so I kept in my tears the best I could.

"Sora and Kairi, my wonderful friends who I love as my own children," she smiled. Even though she was dying right then and there, her smile was uplifting. "I'm sorry I left you two without saying goodbye. You have been the most wonderful children I have ever seen. I loved you both because of your pure hearts full of interest and passion in everything. I'm sorry I never told you I've been sick. I was diagnosed with liver cancer about two years ago and I managed to live this long to meet you, which I'm very thankful for. I could feel my body weakening within the last month and I knew my end was near."

I was so surprised to hear this. I held onto Sora's hand tighter as I wiped away a few tears that didn't hold up with the other.

"What I hadn't told you about me was that my father was a famous for striking oil. All his inheritance went to me after him and my mother died. We also had a family beach house just outside of Destiny City that also belongs to me. Well, my lawyer and me have discussed, and I put in my will that everything that belonged to me, now goes to you two." Sora and I were stunned to hear that all of her family inheritance had just been handed to us.

"I promise, everything will be okay now. I'm at rest and I couldn't be more thankful to have had you two in my life. Thank you for everything dears. Take care. I'll be watching over you now." Elizabeth kissed the tips of her fingers and blew us a kiss before she disappeared of the screen.

Now it was true and unreal all at the same time. I looked at Sora who hugged me as I cried into his shoulder. We had a Guardian Angel watching over us.

**A/N**: Sad and unexpected. Anyway, do what you normally would (smiles) Thanks guys!

Oh btw, I'm still looking for people to add in the **last chapter **but I'll only except them now in this review. I do have all of you have sent me your names. Thank you for that.

Firstly: My friend (Wakka in this story) is writing an off story related to Dear Diary 2 but its in his point of view it'll be posted soon. Please check it out on his name which is **missionrh24**

Next. The **Dear Diary Series **website has been updated. There is now a quiz and a progress section on what's currently going on. I'd love it if you checked everything out. Make sure to leave me messages on either the _About The Author_, The _Home Page _and the _Comments Page_. Keep and eye on the site to keep yourself updated!

Lastly: Dear Diary 2 now has only 3 chapters left! Dang, It's almost over... Well I've been thankful for those of you who have been around. Dear Diary 3 will be posted probably a month or so after the last chapter.


	30. Down

**A/N** I freaking love my reviewers. The loyal ones are like family now. You guys make me smile. Unfortunately, I have _received_ my **first flame** for this story (only for chapter 1) and it wasn't a very nice one either. Oh well, I replied to the person on my profile page if you want to read it. It's okay though, honestly, I do have people who love this story and that's perfectly enough. There will be people who try to tear me down but there are a lot more who will help me back up and those will be you guys (the ones who've always been there). Thank you. I greatly appreciate every single one.

**Chapter 30**- Down

It had been almost a month already since Elizabeth had passed away and things were starting to just work back into normal routine. It was mid May and everything seemed fine, except for one thing in my life.

"Hi Kairi, bye Kairi." Sora walked passed me through the kitchen as he grabbed a bagel and kissed my forehead before rushing out the front door. I stared in the direction he headed as he left the house running off somewhere that was completely beyond me.

"Hi honey," my mom greeted me as she walked into the kitchen. I hoped onto the counter and sat there. "Kairi, get off the counter."

"Fine," I said scooting off the edge and leaning against it.

"I have to get to work. Love you bye." She, too, kissed my forehead and walked out the door. Her heals clicked on the wooden floor until I heard the front door open and close. I sighed wondering what I was going to do. It was Saturday and everyone seemed to have plans but me.

"Kairi, make sure you walk Princess. I'm running late. See you at dinner!" my dad called from the living room and then once again, I heard the front door do it's duty. I ran my fingers through my hair and looked around the house. It was quiet except for the occasional ticking of the clock that stood out in my mind.

I walked out of the kitchen sighing as I headed up the stairs. I could only hear my soft footsteps as I walked into my bedroom and flopped down onto my bed which made a small squeak as it stressed under my weight. '_What to do, what to do?_' I asked myself. Suddenly an idea came to mind as I reached for my cell phone. I dialed up a number before placing my phone up to my ear. It rang a couple of times before someone picked up.

"Hey Kai," Cloud said.

"Hey! What are you doing today?" I asked sitting up hoping he'd say nothing.

"Going to go meet up with Sora and the others in a sec, so I better go," he replied. "Talk to you later!"

"Aw, alright. Have fun. Bye." We both hung up the phone. I began to wonder what was up with Sora. I never see him anymore because he's always busy with the guys. What were they doing all those days they suddenly became "busy"? I shrugged it off as I decided to call up the next number.

"Hey, leave me a message." It went straight to Namine's voice recorder. I hung up before it beeped not wanting to bother. Next, I called Amanda but just as I put the phone to my ear, I remembered her and her family went away for the weekend to visit family members. I tired again with a few other numbers but Selphie, Lissa, Alexa, and I didn't even bother to try with Yuna, were all busy or didn't pick up.

"Bored!" I yelled out loud. I had no one to hang out with, no where to go and it was completely miserable. I sat at the edge of my bed looking around, thinking about what could I could do to occupy my time. I noticed my green notebook sitting at the edge of my desk and that's when an idea came to mind.

"Just write," I told myself as I got up to sit at my desk. My blue pen was at hand and a new fresh page was open in front of me. Soon, I began to make up a fairytale life story. (**A/N**: ah... sounds familiar...)

It was around mid afternoon when Sora finally came home. He walked passed my open door and saw at a glance that I was just sitting on my bed with a tub of ice cream. Sora stopped and back tracked until he was in my doorway. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.

"Depressed or something?" Sora said with a small smile. I stared at him with my spoon dangling out of my mouth. I reached up and pulled it out.

"Bored," I said simply.

"What have you been doing all day?"

"Nothing."

"Sounds fun."

"Oh yeah... loads." He waved before walking down the hall toward Roxas's room again. I put the lid back on the ice cream before getting up. I walked down stairs to put it away. Sora walked into the kitchen and reached under the sink before pulling out a trash bag. I rose and eyebrow at him. "Now what are you doing?"

"I'm going to clean my room." Sora walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I followed my boyfriend up the stairs and stood in the doorway of his bedroom.

"Why are you cleaning your room?" I asked. "It's not like you."

"I know." Sora started to go through his drawers. "It's nearing the end of the school year and it's time start cleaning up. You never know what's going to happen after we graduate. I need to clear things out to make it easier for later." I thought back to when the Hikaru's were here. I over heard them talking about Sora doing something after graduation and now I was really starting to wonder. I wish I could have brought it up with him but now it'd be a little weird.

"Um, yeah," I nodded before walking out of his room into mine. I fell onto my bed and stared at the ceiling for what seemed like forever.

A whole week had passed and nothing had changed. I spent my time at school, at home with no one else, or at work. This new little routine was getting old and quick too. Sora had been out almost every time he didn't have school or work. Most of the time he avoided me and he was cleaning his room big time. Before I noticed, boxes were getting piled up. Sora said that this stuff was just going to be thrown out eventually when he moved out. His room soon became quite bare which bothered me a lot. He never included me in anything anymore.

It was Thursday into the fourth week in May. I was locked up in my room listening to the music since no one else had bothered to try to hang with me. My parents were getting on me a little earlier about not being active anymore.

"Kairi, Namine's here!" my mom called from downstairs. Surprisingly, I heard her with my door closed and locked shut. Stubbornly, I slid off my bed and opened the door. I made my way downstairs.

"Hey Nam." I forced a smile in front of my mom. "Let's go to my room."

"Okay." Namine walked with me to my room. I was walking at a faster pace than her. "Why are you walking so fast?"

"I'll tell you once we get to my room," I said as we were almost to the top of the stairs.

"Kairi, I'm leaving," Sora said who was at the top of the stairs, taking his keys out of his pocket. I stopped and crossed my arms.

"You're leaving, _again_?" I asked harshly. He made his way to the step in front of mine. "Are you going to tell me where to this time?"

"Sorry, can't tell you. Later." He kissed my forehead and walked past Namine and me. This was getting irritating. Namine and me walked into my room where I locked the door behind us.

"What's up with you and Sora? You seem kind of mad at him," Nam said sitting on my bed.

"I am mad at him," I said sitting next to her. "Sora and the guys keep going places. Sora sometimes leaves on his own. I asked him what he's been up to. He says 'Nothing and you shouldn't worry about it. Sometimes we guys have to have guy time.' Then my parents are getting mad at me for the littlest things, like not taking Princess outside right when they ask and stupid stuff like that. They say I need to let Sora just be his own person and not badger him all the time."

"Wow. I never knew that was happening," she replied quietly.

"You think Sora would want to spend more time with me after having to do that stupid one month date thing with Shawn! I don't know, I'm just getting so angry with my family leaving me out of the loop." It fell silent. I looked over at the blonde next to me. She had her hands in her lap and she was looking down sadly. "Sorry for ranting. It looks like something's happened to you. What's wrong?"

"I- it's nothing."

"You're lying," I said. Namine looked at me with tears threatening to fall from her sky blue eyes. "Namine, what's wrong?"

"Cloud and I got into a fight," she said quietly.

"What about?"

"It was really dumb. We were talking about me moving after graduation and how we were going to try a long distance relationship. Then we started talking about what if one or the other starts to like someone else. We started accusing each other." Namine let the tears slide down her cheeks. (**A/N**: remember, they're going to two different colleges)

"Aw Nam, I'm so sorry." I hugged her. "It sounds like we're both having problems."

"Yeah to top it off, my parents are getting down my back about how I really need to start really studying since exams aren't far away and my grades need to look great for collages."

"I think it must be national 'Parents get on your kid's nerves month' or something," I frowned slightly, causing Nam to let a small laugh escape from her.

"Yeah, I think you're right."

"You know what we should do!" I said suddenly getting up.

"What?"

"Let's just leave. You know, just the two of us. We'll get out of everyone's hair and they'll get out of ours. It's a three day weekend coming up because of Memorial Day. We'll pack up for the weekend and leave early Saturday morning before anyone wakes up," I suggested.

"But won't our parents get worried that we just left?"

"We'll leave a note. We'll bring our cell phones, but we won't answer if they call. When we know our parents won't be home, we'll leave them messages saying we're all right. Come on Nam, we need to do this for ourselves and everyone else." I couldn't believe I was coming up with this. For some reason, this just needed to happen. (**A/N:** Me and 'Namine' actually did do something similar to this, except it was only for a couple hours. We came back before anyone noticed.)

"You know, I think you're right. Maybe everyone will treat us with more respect when we get home on Monday night. Um, but Kai... where are we going to go?" Namine asked.

"I don't know. Anywhere. We just need to get away from this place!" I smiled. (**A/N**: Yup, said those exact words.)

"All right. We'll go. We can take my jeep incase we want to go off on dirt roads so no one can follow us," Nam nodded. I grinned.

"Okay, on Saturday, leave about 5 in the morning, I'll be on the sidewalk with my things," I told her as she stood up.

"Got it."

"I can't wait," I smiled causing her to as well.

"Same. Thanks Kairi." Namine hugged me.

"Thanks to you too, Namine," I said hugging her back. After Namine left, I planned my note out.

At 4:30 on Saturday morning, I got ready to go on the road trip with Namine. I grabbed my bag that had change of clothes, bathroom accessories, and my notebook to write about our experience. A couple minutes until 5 eventually came around, so I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder and stuffing my cell phone and some extra cash into my pocket. I pulled out the note and left it on my made bed. I took one last glimpse at it.

_Dear Mom, Dad, Sora, and Roxas,_

_Namine and I have decided to get away from all the problems we've been dealing with here at home. Things just aren't exactly working out and we figured a nice road trip would do us good. No need to call the police because we're not missing. Don't come to try and find us, because we'll be far away from Destiny City by the time you read this. Don't bother calling because we won't pick up, even for you. Sorry if you are worrying about us, but really, you don't need to. Namine and I will be fine. I don't know exactly where we are going but we just are. I don't know when we'll be home, but we will come back. We aren't running away. I'll see you all around I suppose. Take care of the pets for me. _

_Kairi_

I smiled at my note and opened my bedroom door. Princess came running up to me. I shooed her away and quietly crept passed Sora's room. He was sound asleep. Not even blowing him a kiss goodbye, I headed downstairs and out the front door. It was cool morning and I shivered as I walked to the end of my lawn, but luckily Namine was just two houses down from me. As almost on cue, Namine's red jeep pulled up to me. I put my things in the trunk and hopped in the passenger seat.

"Ready?" I asked, putting on my seatbelt.

"I think so." She looked at Cloud's house and I looked at Sora's bedroom window. If only the knew what they were doing to us inside.

"We better go incase someone decides to wake up early," I said. Namine nodded. We were soon on our way to our unknown destination. We drove out of Destiny City and down the highway to no where in particular. Nam and me didn't say a word to each other for the first two hours. We both focused on the road ahead and listened to the radio. I glanced down at the radio to see the time. It was almost 8.

"I wonder if anyone's noticed we're gone yet," Namine said out of no where. It was as if she knew I was looking at the time and read my mind.

"I don't know. They probably won't notice until they need us," I sighed scooting down in the passenger seat and staring out the side window. The scenery was grassy and slightly mountainous.

"So where are we going?" Namine asked. "Have we decided yet?"

"Maybe Star City since we didn't really get to stay too long last time," I said frowning a little. "We won't meet up with my friends though. They might tip off the others." It was sad that I wasn't going to be able to see Jenna and the gang but Namine and I really needed this time away from everyone.

Three more hours had passed with little talk before Namine and I had made it into Star City. It seemed quite busy which was understandable on a three day weekend. We decided to find a hotel before doing anything else. Most of the signs on the hotels we passed had the red words **No Vacancy**. It seemed to be a while before we found an inexpensive hotel that was decent but not great.

Namine slipped the key card through the slot and walked in the small one bed hotel room. I followed her inside. Namine dropped her bag at the end of the bed and fell back onto it, sighing. It seemed like this hotel hadn't been touched in a while. I slid the thick, beige, curtains open letting the sunlight beam down at us.

"What time is it now?" Namine asked sitting up.

"Almost twelve," I answered looking at the clock ticking above the small television.

"What are we going to do?" Her eyes watched me as I walked over and sat down in one of the two chairs next to a small table. I shrugged.

"I guess we could just go around town," I suggested. My phone started to ring. It made me jump, not expecting to hear it. Namine walked over to me and we both looked at the caller ID. '_Sora is calling_'.

"Are you going to answer it?"

"I can't." I put my phone onto the table and closed my eyes, letting the music drown away into my mind. It stopped abruptly and I knew it was going straight to my answering machine. Namine sat across from me and we both watched it. My phone lit up and made a ding telling me that there was a message waiting to be heard. I pressed the button to hear it.

"You have one unheard message. May 26, twelve-o-two pm." The animated female voice switched over to Sora. "Kairi. Please, I'm begging you. Call me back. Hopefully you're not seriously gone. Maybe you're still in town and you're trying just to worry us. Well it's working! Kairi! Call, please."

"He sounded skeptical," Namine said as I closed my cell phone and stuffed it into my pocket.

"Well, I'm not calling back. At least not right now. I'm not ready," I said standing up. "Let's go somewhere."

"Like?"

"I don't know. We just need to get out in the fresh air." I opened the door and walked outside.

There wasn't anything better to do then to just free your mind from the world as you know it. Namine and I enjoyed this. It was exactly what was needed. School was stressful as it was without everyone acting weird. The end of the school year was just three weeks away and all of this happening at once was way too much to take in.

By the end of the night, I finally decided to sit down with Namine and listen to what messages people were leaving for us.

"Kairi, Namine, girls." It was my mother. "Please give us a call. We're worried sick."

"Kairi, this is daddy. Honey, why are you doing this? Did something happen to you or Namine? God, honey, why did you do this?" I could hear my mom crying in the background which was heartbreaking. "Please call and let us know if everything is alright."

"Kairi, it's Mrs. Takumi," Namine's mom of course. "Namine won't pick up the phone. I've talked to your parents and they say you two have run away together. What's going on?"

"Babe, it's me again." Sora sounded tired and sad. "Please call me back. I want to know you're okay."

"Kairi!" Selphie of course had to yell into the phone. "The whole group is here at Town Square. Sora told us about you and Namine. Are you two crazy? Seriously, give someone, anyone a call. We're all waiting to hear back from you."

"So much for everyone saying things will be okay or something," Namine said to me as we laid on the bed in our hotel room.

"Everything will be okay, Namine," I smiled. She just looked at me. "Cloud and you will be fine. Everything happens for a reason," she sighed next to me.

"What about you and Sora? How do you think that'll work?"

"I honestly don't know but if I keep worrying about it, I'll never get anywhere in life. I'll keep stressing out hoping life will go as planned. Nothing will ever fully go the way we hope, that's life. As long as we have people who care, we can get through it."

"They seem to care." Namine said lifting her phone out of her pocket which began to ring. "It's Cloud."

"Let's hear the message." We both sat up and waited for Cloud's message.

"Namine, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I love you. Please, call someone, anyone, I'm begging you." He had sounded so upset which wasn't normal for him. I saw a tear fall from Namine's chin.

"I'm here for you." I wrapped my arms around her. She began to cry hard as she hugged me back.

"What have we done, Kairi?" Her words were barely audible. I stroked her hair as she cried. There was no way I could let her see me scared too.

"Shh," I said wiping away one of my own tears. "It'll be fine."

A little over an hour had passed and Namine had finally fallen asleep. I was still awake staring at the wall thinking. I didn't feel like myself and none of this had seemed real its self. I sat up and looked to see what time it was. My cell phone lit up part of the room and I knew if I didn't move somewhere, I'd probably wake Nam up. I walked outside. It was a little chilly but in a comforting way. It was almost eleven at night.

My stomach twisted at my next thought. I had received many phone calls from Sora and he only left a few messages. He did have a right to know I was okay. Of course I was hesitant as I began to type in his cell phone number and leaned against the cool wall. I took in a deep breath and held it up to my ear to hear a light ring. This had to be easy, after all, he was my boyfriend. What could he say?

"Kairi!" His voice suddenly startled me. I stared at the sky with my eyes wide open and in shock. I figured he would be asleep but I was clearly wrong. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

I stood there unable to say a word.

"Kairi? Are you there?" I covered my mouth with my other hand. My body began to tremble. I was so scared and for no reason at all. "Kairi, answer. I know you're there."

I so badly wanted to say that I was there and I was sorry for running away but instead, tears started to roll down my cheeks as a light gust of wind hit me.

"Please, answer me..." He was whispering and he did sound kind of scared or upset. Without realizing it, I hung up the phone and slide to the ground.

"I'm sorry..." I curled up into a ball and cried into my arms.

"Are you going to join me?" I asked Namine the next morning. She looked up at me and shook her head.

"I think I'm just going to stay here."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks though."

"Just call," I said as I slipped out the front door. I had no idea where to go but after last night, I just wanted to go. Anywhere would be fine with me. I headed into town. The weather was wonderful and relaxing. It was nice to be "home".

I knew I should call my house and hope that no one would answer. They had to know, it had been twenty four hours after all. If Sora hadn't told my parents by now, I could easily have a missing persons report on me. That would not be good at all.

I pulled out my phone and took in a deep breath, closing my eyes and listened for the ringing in my ear. "Hello, this is the Hikari residence. Sorry, no one is here to answer your call. Please leave a message and we will try and get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you." The answering machine beeped loudly.

"Hi, it's me. I'm sorry I never called back. I'm going to make this short. I'm sorry for everything, really, I am, but I guarantee that I'm okay and so is Namine. We'll be home before you know it. Try not to stress out too much. I love you all and I'm sorry again." I hung up my phone. I felt so much better about leaving that message. Now hopefully they won't keep pestering me with more phone calls.

As I put my cell phone away, I ran into whoever was standing in front of me.

"I'm sorry," I said looking up. "Oh, god." This honestly couldn't be happening. '_Please let this be a dream... or more like a nightmare...'_

"What are you doing here?" Seifer looked down at me.

"None of your business," I said sighing and walking past him. He grabbed my arm. "What, Seifer, what do you want?"

"Something is wrong, you wouldn't be here in Star City with no one else around for no reason," he said crossing his arms.

"You're here, aren't you? You're supposed to be in Twilight Town."

"Maybe we were meant to bump into each other."

"Whatever." I walked passed him and he just let me go, that is until I heard him say something I didn't expect.

"I'm sorry." It was almost as if he said it in my mind and not out loud. I slowly turned and looked at him.

"Huh?"

"You heard me," he sighed. "I'm sorry." I walked closer to him and he stood closer to me. Without realizing, I crossed my arms and he wrapped his arms around me.

"Why?" My words were mumbled. "Why now? Why is this happening now?" Seifer slowly pulled my back and looked down at me. I didn't want to look at him.

"Because sometimes all it takes is time for you to realize right and wrong." This had to be the wisest thing I have heard him say to me.

"You hurt me so god damn much!" I said frustrated through my teeth. "What did I ever do to you to deserve that? I loved you, wasn't that enough?"

"I'm human, I make mistakes. I loved you too, Kairi. I was an idiot and I admit that. There was nothing good to that. I'm not going to lie, I miss you but you know, if you really care about someone, you'll let them go. If we were meant to be, we'd be together now but it's so clear who you love. You two belong with each other." I put my hand on his forehead. He laughed a little and put his hand over mine to drop it to my side. "What's that for?"

"You like to confuse me, don't you?" I said. "But thank you. I needed to hear that." He pulled me into a hug again and this time, I hugged back.

"We're going home," I said suddenly to Namine as soon as I opened the hotel room door. She was sitting on the bed with her stuff all packed next to her. Namine immediately stood up.

"I've been waiting for you to come back so I could say the same thing." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "I've packed your stuff too."

"Thank you," I smiled. "I'm glad we took this trip but I think we had our time to think."

"I agree. I'm still a little scared to face the world again, but I know we can count on each other."

"Of course." I grabbed my bags and we headed out to the hotel counter to let them know we were checking out.

On the way home, I explained my little run in with Seifer. She was surprised at how willing I was to be nice to him after a short make up. I knew it was wrong and probably not a wise thing either but I knew I probably wouldn't be running into him anytime soon, so he couldn't hurt me anymore.

The ride home was just as quiet as the ride to Star City. As Destiny City got closer, the sky turned darker. It was beginning to drizzle as we drove down the streets to our houses. I ended up spacing out as we entered town and so as we headed down our street, it only seemed to be a matter of seconds.

"Well, this is it," I said staring at my house as it grew closer.

"Yeah... it is..." Namine agreed quietly.

I climbed out of Namine's jeep with my bags in hand. I looked back at my blonde haired best friend with a sad smile. It was a fun get away but now it was time to head back into reality. The rain was pouring down hard as I closed the red jeep door shut and she drove down to her house. I dropped my bags onto the wet, dark gray sidewalks and stared at my house. It seemed so lifeless and dull before my eyes. The green grass was soaking in the spring rain, along with the flowers my mom had planted about a month and a half ago. Sora's red truck was parked on the side of the road while my parents cars were in the driveway.

I wondered what their reactions were going to be when I stepped through the door. Happy? Possibly too angry to care? I honestly couldn't say but all I knew was that it was nice for them to wonder about me. The countless calls from Sora proved that he did miss me but I wasn't sure if he would change now that I'm back, or just go back to being with the guys all the time.

I continued to stand in front of my house for about five minutes as the rain drenched my hair and dampened my clothes. My skin had goosebumbs but that didn't make me want to go in. The cool water dropping at a fast rate on me was calming and soothing. Finally after what seemed like a whole day had passed just staring at my house, I picked up my bags from the sidewalk and made my way up the walkway to my front door.

I stood on my porch, examining my door. Even through the rain, it was a welcoming sight. I carefully clicked down on the door handle and slowly watched the door slide further away from me as it showed the inside of my home. It was quiet except for the low rumbling of the television in the den. My eyes wandered the picture-filled walls and the wooden floor. It seemed like I had been gone longer than a two days. The house seemed so unfamiliar and new to me for some odd reason. Footsteps were heading down the stairs but I didn't move. I just waited. Sora appeared in the hall directly in front of me. His eyes widened as he slowly and eventually made his way in front of me. He stopped about two feet away.

"Kairi?" he said quietly as I looked at him. My bangs were stuck to my forehead and water was dripping from my bags and my clothes onto the wooden floor. My hands slowly unclenched the handle of my bags, as they dropped onto the ground with a light thud. I nodded as tears began to swell in my eyes. I leaped into Sora's arms as he rubbed my back. I cried into his shoulder, not realizing how much I had missed him in such little time. I honestly could say that I've been scared I was losing him.

"I'm sorry," my voice was muffled into his shoulder but I knew he heard me. He placed his cheek against the side of my head. My arms squeezed him tighter as the tears just fell peacefully onto his black zip-up jacket.

"I was so scared that you actually left _forever_," he said softly into my ear. I gripped tighter to the back of his jacket.

"I'd never leave you," I sniffled. "I figured you just wanted space since we haven't had any us time in a long time. I just guessed that since you have been so busy with the guys, you didn't have time for me anymore." Sora pulled me away from him with his hands on my cheeks. I looked down, my hair shadowing my face as my hands dropped down to dangle.

"Kairi, is that why you left?" he asked.

"Mostly," I replied quietly. I saw him shake his head.

"It's not that I don't want to not spend time with you. I've been dying to but I've been really busy with a lot of things. The guys and me have been helping me out with things, that's all. I have a lot going on right now and I promise things will get better. I shouldn't be so caught up with that and I should have realized I need to spend more time with you. I'm so sorry." His arms wrapped around me again.

"Sora? Why is the door op-" my mom's voice said softly. Her tone wasn't as happy which wasn't like her. I slowly looked up to from Sora's shoulder to see my mom in the hallway. Her hand raised to her mouth, which was slightly ajar.

"Ayson?" she said. "Ayson! Kairi is home! Kairi is back!"

"What?" My dad's voice came from the den and I could hear footsteps walk through the livingroom. My mom came running toward us as Sora stepped to the side for both my parents to come hug me.

I knew it was wrong for me to leave the way I did but I don't entirely regret it either. The one thing I did learn from this whole trip was that this is where I belong. My family, my friends, my life... it's all right here.

**A/N**: My goodness! That freaking took me forever! I actually randomly got inspiration (if you go to the progress section of the Dear Diary Series website, you'll learn more of why I haven't been working on this story at all). I have three more weeks until Graduation! I'm so excited! Hopefully I can have the next chapter up soon since it's pretty much all memories and then the last chapter is the final one! Let's get excited! (Oh yeah, and if you all like this story, you should really check out The Perfect Fall... my newest story)


	31. Let's Make A Memory

**A/N**: Aw. I've pretty much replied to all of you who have reviewed the last chapter. Thank you again. Well this chapter is pretty much living the past. It's nothing exciting or anything. It's pretty much just to get you all to remember what's happened since the first chapter of Dear Diary to the present to get you all ready for the last chapter of this long story.

**Chapter 31**- Let's Make A Memory

This was it. There was just a week left until Graduation. June 15th had come so fast and almost without warning. Everything that I had lived up to this day hardly seemed more then some fictional story. (**A/N**: No pun intended).

Everything seemed to be going right for once; well as right as it could be. Shawn and Christy looked like they were getting along to everyone's advantage. My parents had been paying special attention to me since my little run away case with Namine just two weeks ago. I told them everything was okay and we weren't planning to do it again so they really didn't need to be as clingy as they were getting. It was a little on the annoying side now.

The whole group decided to meet up at the park to talk about the events of the past two years. All of us, as in, Selphie, Sora, Tidus, Yuna, Namine, Cloud, Riku, Amanda, Wakka, Lulu, Irvine, Lissa, Josh, Roxas, Alexa, and Blake sat around on the swings and grass, trying to be close enough to just talk.

"I can't believe graduation is almost here," Selphie said laying back on the cool, green grass. She stared up at the sky that had a few fluffy, white clouds drifting by slowly.

"Thank god we're almost done! I can't wait," Roxas said as he began to pump himself higher on the swing. He was excited to be going to the local university this upcoming fall.

"I'm in between sad and happy. I know I'll be crying my eyes out on graduation," I sighed. I picked at the longer strands of grass.

"You won't be alone, I'll be doing the same," Namine slightly laughed. Cloud reached over and pulled her closer to him. They had worked things out and were trying their best to make everything okay for the sake of their relationship.

"I can't wait to get out of here," Tidus said happily. He pulled Yuna close to him while she grinned. Things still weren't great between the three of us and I knew if things didn't get better before graduation, I'd be the one to be the bigger person after we get our diplomas.

"So much has happened these last couple of years," Amanda said picking up a dandelion.

"Yeah... sure has," Alexa said.

"It seems like you've lived here forever though," Blake said reaching for her hand. Alexa turned and smiled as she grasped his tightly.

_"Let's go, I'll show you to your room." I pulled her along up the stairs. "That's my parents room." I pointed to the right once we got to the top of the stairs. "That's Sora's room." Walking down the hall pointing to the room on the right. I pointed to the bathroom between mine and Sora's room across the hall on the left. Next I pointed to my room on the right. Then I showed her the room at the very end of the hall on the left._

_"This is a nice room," she said sitting on the bed. There was a decent sized T.V., a desk, and a dresser with a huge mirror on it and a radio._

_"Princess is on her way up!" my mom called to us._

_"Who?" Alexa asked._

_"You'll see," Sora said. Suddenly Princess charged into the room, diving onto the bed and started to lick Alexa._

_"Aw! What a cute puppy!" Alexa smiled. I laughed._

_"Princess was a get well present from Sora last year," I told her._

_"Aw, that's so sweet," she said. Sora grinned. She smiled back. "I better start unpacking."_

_"We're going back to my room," Sora said getting ready to leave. Cloud was right behind him. Blake just stood there. We all looked at him. Cloud waved his hand in front of him._

_"Heeellloooo…" Cloud called to his brother. Blake snapped out of it._

_"Oh, sorry, I'm coming," Blake rushed out of the room past Sora and Cloud. I had never seen him that way of all the years I've known Cloud's family. _

"I remember that." Cloud started to laugh as he gave a noogie to his little brother. "Ah, young love. How sweet." He teased.

"Shut up, Cloud." Blake scowled.

"Oh, you remember when Sora was being an ass the first day of eleventh grade?" Riku said. Sora looked over and glared at his best friend.

"I was not." He said indigently as he crossed his arms.

"Oh yeah... so not you." Riku said sarcastically.

_A very pretty girl with bright blonde hair and piercing blue eyes opened the locker next to me. She looked awfully familiar to me. I got up and accidentally bumped into a boy with chocolate brown spiky hair. He never turned around to face me. He just walked away as if he were on a mission. His friend with silvery hair walked at the same pace. _

_"Watch where you're going," He barked coldly. I glared at him as he walked away. Cloud started to head towards the inconsiderate jerk._

_"Cloud, no!" I said grabbing his arm and trying with all my might to hold him back. The brunet's friend turned around, while the jerk walked down the hall and into a classroom. His friend came up to us. He was just about as tall as Cloud. It looked like the two were about to rip each others heads off. The girl next to my locker stepped in, putting her hand up in front of them._

_"Riku, no," She said firmly. _

"You pretty much were an ass, dude." Tidus said, only to receive a very harsh glare from Sora. I smiled and put my arm around Sora's shoulders to pull him closer.

"I was having a bad day." He sighed heavily.

"And I forgive you." I kissed his cheek.

"What else was memorable?" Lulu said leaning back on Wakka.

"Remember when Kairi and Namine went at it at school?" Selphie said energetically.

"It was hell," Namine said.

_"You're my best friend," she smiled… again, almost like a little child. No one seemed happy about that. I wasn't too happy either, but I didn't have the heart to tell her off. Sometimes I hated being me. "So now we're all friends?" she said looking around the table. Everyone just looked at her._

_"How about not?" Namine said standing up. She looked at me. "Kairi, can I talk to you?" I nodded and got up. She pulled me over to an area of the lunchroom where no one was. "What's wrong with you!"_

_"What are you talking about?" I asked._

_"You just invited her with welcoming arms without our permission!"_

_"So what, now I have to have permission to have friends?"_

_"Yeah, you do. At least with her!"_

_"Namine! Stop judging her. You don't even want to get to know her new side," I said, staring to get angry about how she was reacting._

_"Didn't you hear me on the first day of school? I don't want to know her! Kairi, get it through your head! I've known her longer then you have! She's the most horrible person alive! She's putting on an act! She wants something!" She was practically screaming now. I noticed people were starting to watch us._

_"Stop over reacting! PEOPLE CHANGE!" I started yelling too. I didn't care anymore if people were watching us._

_"Yeah, people do change," she hissed at me. " And that person is you…"_

_"Oh, like you're miss perfect over here?"_

_"I wish you would have stayed on the other side of the island so I wouldn't have to deal with this."_

_"Oh sorry if I'm ruining you life! You wouldn't know Cloud if it wasn't for me!"_

_"You'll never understand how high school is will you?"_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"We'll eventually lose the friends we had when we were younger. That's high school for you." I continued to look at her confused. "Stop living in the past Kairi. Your happy ending will never come true." Namine grabbed a milk carton from someone who was walking by and opened it._

_"Namine…" I started to say. I was nervous. She looked at me and poured the milk over my head. I stood there in shock as the milk rolled down my head onto my clothes._

_"Consider this friendship over. Bye Kairi," Namine said leaving the lunchroom, leaving the whole school stunned, along with me._

"That milk smell stayed in my hair the whole day," I said glaring at Namine.

"I'm sorry, Kai. I was just angry." She reached over and wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh, remember when Kairi's mom caught us past curfew?" Lissa brought up.

_"Does anyone know what time it is?" Sora asked._

_"It's…" I lifted my arm to check my watch. "Oh my gosh…"_

_"What?" Lissa asked._

_"It's almost midnight!" I practically yelled._

_"Weren't we supposed to be home by eleven?" Cloud said._

_"Yeah!" Sora answered. We ran the rest of the way home. We were out of breath by the time we reached my house. There weren't any lights on inside._

_"Shh…" I said opening the door. We all walked in quietly. After everyone was inside, I slowly shut the door. We started to head up the dark stairs. I was leading the way. It was so dark, I didn't see Princess' ball on the second to last stair from the top. I stepped on it falling forward._

_"Ah!" I screamed._

_"Are you okay?" Sora whispered helping me up._

_"Yeah, I'm fine," I said standing up looking back at everyone. The hall light turned on. We all looked to the top of the stairs._

_"Kairi!" my mom yelled. She looked really mad. I think the maddest I'd ever seen her before._

_"Uh oh…" I said looking up at her._

"I have never seen your mom that mad in my life." Cloud said shuddering.

"Well the only good thing that came from that punishment was meeting Elizabeth." Sora said looking up into the sky. I really missed her but I knew she was watching over us. I smiled looking up into the sky too.

_Sora and I continued down a hall to the elevators. We got to the second floor and went to room 207._

_"Should I knock?" I asked as we stood before the closed door._

_"Here, I'll do it." Sora lightly knocked. After a couple of seconds the door opened._

_"Yes?" An older lady opened the door. She was a little heavy set but not considered fat. She had sea green eyes that were quite youthful when you looked in them. Her hair was a cloudy white color that was short, but had a bouncy curl to it. Her face was aged with wrinkles that had taken over her appearance. The outfit she was wearing was a light pink nightgown with some matching slippers._

_"Hi, are you Elizabeth Conley?" Sora asked greeting her with a warm smile._

_"Yes I am," she replied in a shy but confident tone._

_"I'm Sora and this is my girlfriend Kairi. We're going to be visiting you," Sora said. Her shy appearance brightened with a smile._

_"Oh, come in and sit down," Elizabeth replied stepping aside to let us in._

_"Thank you," I smiled as we walked in. _

"She was such a sweetheart," Amanda said. Everyone agreed with her.

"Elizabeth was like a grandma to all of us," Alexa frowned a little. I continued to look up at the sky with a smile.

"Which reminds me when Riku got into that car accident," Roxas said. I looked at him not seeing how it connected.

"Did you really have to bring that up?" Riku frowned rubbing his leg that was injured.

_"Hi Mr. Kuro!" I waved. Riku's dad looked over at me._

_"Kairi! Riku and his mother are in the hospital! They got into a car wreck! I'm heading over there to go see them. Would you like a ride?" he asked, panic fully heard in his voice._

_"Oh my god…" I turned to Shawn. "Please, please let me go see him!"_

_"Go on," Shawn nodded in somewhat of shock. I ran across the lawn toward Mr. Kuro's car. He was getting into the driver's seat. I quickly got into the passenger seat and we were on our way._

_"Are they all right?" I asked slightly shakily. I glanced over at the middle-aged man. Riku resembled him, quite a bit. I'm sure at Riku's age, Mr. Kuro looked exactly like him. Mr. Kuro ran his hand down his face and sighed._

_"I really don't know," he said in a low voice. I swallowed hard and looked out the window. On such a beautiful day, the worst can still happen. I couldn't believe this was happening. When you hear about car wrecks, you never think they could happen to you or anyone you know, well this is one of those points proven that it can. After a dreadfully quite ride to the hospital, we finally arrived. Mr. Kuro and I sprinted through the doors and into the emergency room._

_"Name?" asked the nurse at the desk._

_"Riyo Kuro. My wife, Aki, and son, Riku, got into a car accident," Mr. Kuro said._

_"They're in room 438 and 439." The Nurse pointed down the hallway. We both ran down to see Sora, Roxas, Namine, Cloud, and Amanda outside the rooms._

_"Mr. Kuro, Kairi!" Sora said standing up. Namine was rubbing Amanda's back as she cried into her hands. Cloud was glaring at the wall in disbelief while Roxas placed elbows on his knees and rested his forehead in the palms of his hands. Everyone was in their work uniforms._

_"Sora! Is Riku all right?" I asked almost in tears._

_"We don't know yet," he said in a whisper looking at Amanda. _

"I was so scared!" Amanda said gripping onto Riku tightly.

"Can we get off the depressing stuff?" Yuna asked. I looked over to see Tidus looking at me. I wasn't sure if I should scowl at him or just look away. I still remember what caused us not to get along, and to this day I'm not sure why it even happened.

_"The weather sure is nice today," I said trying to bring a conversation up._

_"Uh-huh," he replied. The way he responded wasn't the exact way I was hoping it would turn out._

_"Yeah... so..." I said awkwardly._

_"..." was his answer._

_"You're not very talkative." I looked next to me at the brown haired boy._

_"Sorry."_

_"What's wrong?"_

_"Nothing."_

_"You can't lie to me..."_

_"I know."_

_"Then if you love me, you'll tell me," that had caught his attention because his eyes shifted from the ocean, to me. He let out a sigh before sitting upright._

_"It's just something I heard on the boat. Something Tidus said," Sora said quietly._

_"What'd he say?" I asked curiously. He took a deep breath in before speaking again._

_"That you may end up hurting me in the long run." I was shocked that those words came from Sora's mouth. I was appalled that Tidus would even say such a thing. _

_"Why did he say that?" I asked quietly. Sora shook his head and shrugged while looking down._

_"I don't know. He just think that you're using me because you want a boyfriend. He also mentioned that if you really did love me, you never would have dated Shawn, no matter the circumstances."_

_"I can't believe he'd say such a thing." That's when I started to feel my emotional side building up inside me. My voice started to shake and my vision was slightly starting to blur. "Sora, I love you. I don't want anyone saying what I feel and what I don't feel."_

_"Kairi..."_

_"No," I interrupted. That's when the tears came rolling out. "The reason I dated Shawn was because I just wanted to get the stupid drama over with so no one would hurt anymore! You know that! I'd never use you in a million years. I'm not that kind of person and again, you should know that! Sora, you should be believing me. If you love me like you say you do, you'll trust me. I love you too much to let you go." I couldn't control any emotions at this point. I was so angry and sad at the same time. Silence fell between us as I brought my legs to my chest and hugged them._

"Kairi, can I talk to you?" Tidus got up and walked toward me as if he recalled everything that happened, too. Everyone was watching the two of us.

"Um, I guess." I stood up and brushed the back of my pants as we walked away from the group. Once we were secluded from the others, he turned to face me.

"I've been a total dick to you and I wanted to apologize," he said looking down at the ground.

"What brings this up?" I asked crossing my arms.

"It's the end of the school year and I don't want to leave knowing I hurt one of my best friends." Tidus looked up at me. "I shouldn't have said anything to Sora."

"Why did you?"

"I guess because I was jealous of the relationship you two have. Yuna and I weren't getting along at the time."

"It still never gave you the right to say the things you said. I hated you for it because everything you said was hurtful and way uncalled for."

"I understand that. I wasn't thinking before," he frowned. "I don't expect you to forgive me fully, I wouldn't forgive me. I just wanted to say sorry and try to make things better."

"I won't forgive you right away," I said looking back at my friends. They were all laughing and goofing around. I turned back to face Tidus. "But I'm still your friend, so I'm willing to move on."

"Oh, thank you!" Tidus grabbed me into a bear hug and lifted me off the ground. I started laughing.

"What are friends for?" I smiled as he put me down.

"Let's go back," Tidus grinned and we ran back to the group.

"Well, it looks like you two forgave each other," Sora smiled as I sat down next to him.

"It's the end of the year. We can't leave on bad terms," I said to him. Now everything seemed to be good in life. Everyone cleared up their difference and now only this last week will determine what real life can hold.

**A/N**: So yeah, this chapter wasn't the greatest, specially for not being updated forever but it's just a semi final chapter. It wasn't supposed to be big. However, next chapter will be longer (possibly the longest, I don't know yet) and best. It doesn't matter if you review or not, I wanted to finish before my graduation but obviously that never happened. Anyway, I'll try to get the final chapter up before I head to college!


	32. The Beginning of Forever

**A/N**: So this is it. Dear Diary 2: Beyond the Pages will finally be ending (it only took me forever...). I'm really dedicated to this chapter because I've had this idea in my head since the last chapter of Dear Diary, plus I can finally express how I felt at my own graduation. Hope you all enjoy it!

**Chapter 32**- The Beginning of Forever

"You need to calm down," my mom said to me as I ran down the stairs with my cap and gown on for graduation. My dad and her were in the kitchen making a late lunch.

"What do you mean calm down?" I said slightly out of breath. "Graduation is in-"

"In four hours," Roxas said walking down the stairs without his graduation attire.

"Kairi, chill," Sora yawned walking behind him. Since it was the last day of school and graduation, the seniors got the day off to get ready while the others had to do their finals. It was one in the afternoon and we had to be at school by four-thirty to get set up prior to the ceremony which started at five.

"So who is all coming for the party afterwards?" my dad asked setting plates on the table. I placed my black square cap on the counter and sat down at my usual spot at the dinner table.

"Just about 12 others from school besides the group," I said as I slipped off my black gown over the back of the chair.

"Plus all of your friends parents, the Johnson's, the Jilling's family since Shawn and Christy are together; Christy's friend, Cindy and her family; Kyle, Jenna, Chris, Casey, and their families will be there too," my mom said reading off a piece of paper in her hand. "Plus some of your friends from school."

"Dang..." Sora reached his hands in the air to stretch.

"Some of those people I'm still not super fond of being at the party," I declared looking out across the street.

"Well, it's the end of the year, you probably won't see half of them again after graduation. Just try your best to be a sport." My dad sat down at the end of the table as my mom finished the cooking.

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed.

"Come on Kairi!" Roxas called from downstairs. I was in my room redoing my make-up and checking to make sure I looked alright. "You were the one complaining about being late earlier!"

"I'm coming!" I yelled back as I grabbed my cap off my bed. I slipped it over my head and ran down the stairs to meet up with Sora and Roxas.

"It's show time," Sora said opening the door. By the time we got to school, most of the seniors were in their assigned classrooms waiting for graduation to start. Since Sora and I were walking partners, we were in the same classroom. Even if we weren't walking partners, our last names are so close, we would have been near each other anyway. I studied the faces of my classmates who were talking excitedly amongst themselves. It was weird what a black cap and gown could do to someone. We all looked so much older and it was hard to believe that this was it. After we throw our caps in the air and be recognized as "The Class of 2007" we're no longer just teenagers trying to live, we officially become the future.

"Okay, we're getting ready to walk out," the teacher who owned the classroom announced. All the teachers wore white gowns to be easily recognized in the crowd. "I'm going to call you and your walking partner and I want you to line up outside we can have an easy stream out to the field."

As our names began to be called, I quickly reached over to hold onto Sora's hand. I was so nervous and excited. Once our names came up, we walked into the loud hallway. All I could see was a mix of black walking to squeeze in line. It took about 15 minutes total to get lined up and ready.

The large class of 2007 from DHS walked in line onto the field where they began to play the graduation music. The crowd was amazingly large and they all stood up as we walked together down to the front of the stage. It was rather hot out but it was barely noticeable with all the excitement. The sun was getting ready to fall behind the trees within the next few hours and there wasn't a single cloud. There was a light breeze that made the experience bearable. As Sora and I walked down the long isle, I was smiling but I wasn't sure who to smile at. There were so many faces staring back at me. (**A/N**: This whole graduation part was exactly how mine went and that's why it's so descriptive. -smiles-)

After reaching the seats, it seemed to take forever for the rest of the class to fill in. We had a fairly large class. Once everyone was seated and quiet, our principle got on stage to start the beginning of forever.

Walking up behind the stage as names were getting called up, after almost an hour of speeches, everything seemed like a crazy dream. I looked behind me to see Sora looking behind us to see the rest of the kids in our row waiting anxiously. I was finally to the stage and was able to see hundreds of faces staring up at me. I always wondered what that feeling was going to be like on stage to get my diploma case. There were cheers as my name echoed out into the field. It was nothing like I imagined. I figured that I would be too nervous to recall anything, but it felt so right as I walked across to take a formal picture with the principle before walking off stage.

As soon as I stepped off the last step and was handed my actual diploma from one of the counselors, I looked down and felt free. There wasn't anything holding me back anymore, I officially made it into the real world. I waited for Sora to catch up as I grinned happily at him. We walked together back to our seats. It took a while to get everyone across the stage but it was worth it to see everyone I've known forever finally make it.

"So here's to us Destiny High, class of 2007, we made it!" The class president cheered. Everyone stood up and threw their hats in the air. While everyone did that, I turned and kissed Sora.

It was an hour and a half later and I was sitting in my room with Namine, Lissa, Amanda, Alexa, and Selphie. I had just finished writing about my graduation in my diary.

"It seems like forever ago that we graduated," Namine said leaning her head off my bed.

"That's for sure," Selphie agreed. I closed my diary and slipped it in into its normal spot.

"We should get downstairs where everyone else is," I said standing up and straightening out my thin-strapped, black dress. Since it was a big occasion, everyone dressed up. 87 people total were invited tonight and everyone showed. Sora's parents and Roxas' parents made special trips, along with my friends from Star City came with their parents and of course Roxas's friends from Twilight Town came. We walked downstairs to see people everywhere. The back door was open which caused Princess to run around excitedly. Precious made sure she was away from everyone and was tucked up in the windowsill in my room.

One Destiny decided to make our final performance tonight at graduation since it was probably the last time for a while that we would all see each other. A large stage was set up with all the instruments needed.

I scanned the crowd outside to see the twelve people we invited from school. (**A/N**: originally when I started the "who wants to be in the last chapter?" thing, there were 33 people. I'm glad it shrunk, that was so many. Sorry to anyone who planned to see themselves in here, I never got those reviews I asked from chapters 27-30.). I saw Lilac, a girl from my English class. Even though she wasn't the lovey-dovey kind of person, she was a great person to talk to about problems.

There was also, Reno, who was in P.E. with us, along with Darren. Reno's way into making sure his friends are protected at all time while Darren told Sora that he's always wanted to be animator when he got out of high school.

Saria, a girl with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, was talking to Roxas. We met her in our math class this year. She is really smart but also loves sports, which kind of made her a tomboy, but still very stylish. Saria secretly loves to sing but not many people know that, except for Roxas who heard her singing one day after school.

I waved over at Joshua, not our Josh, but a junior I befriended in Science. He waved back with a smile.

Andrew Yashimoto was having a staring contest with Wakka near the stage. I laughed at this. He was pretty aloof and goofy but could be serious sometimes. He loves playing volleyball, poker, ps2, and staring contests, which explains what he was doing currently.

Rain, a blonde haired, tan, girl from my P.E. class was dancing with a few others. It looked like she was having a great time.

Roxas was now talking to Akina, a girl who lived just down the street. It was pretty obvious that she might be crushing on him but Roxas wasn't the type to complain.

Astor, with kind of spiky black hair and light blue-green eyes, was inside talking with a few other people. He nodded at me and I smiled in reply.

Tate walked by me with a grin on his face. He has red hair, blue green eyes, freckles, and was kind of short. He was wearing grey and black shoes, some baggy kaki pants, a long T-shirt that said Cream Soda on it, and had some dog tags dangling around his neck.

Alyn, a guy with light brown hair and blue eyes, was talking to Sora about this new fencing trick he learned recently which actually seemed to interest Sora.

"Hey Kairi," Rinoa, an old friend of mine from middle school said. We hadn't really talked too much but she was a good friend and I couldn't not invite her.

"Hey, you," I smiled hugging her. She smiled and walked outside to the party. It was crazy with so many people here but it was interesting to watch and be around.

"Kairi!" Amanda called from inside the kitchen. I turned around to see her with a mischievous grin on her face.

"What are you up to?" I asked walking closer. She pulled out two sodas from the refrigerator. As I came closer, I realized one had an "R" lightly written on the side. It was clearly in Sora's hand writing. The memories of when I was unlucky to get the shook up can that Sora had planned for Riku a while back came to mind.

"Sora's obviously going to try to get Riku still," Amanda said shaking it a little more.

"Are you trying to help Sora out or something?" I questioned as she set the soda down. She started to laugh a little as she shook up the other can. "What are you doing?"

"Okay, get this, we're going to meet up with the boys and hand Sora both of the cans. When he realizes the 'R', he'll quickly hand it to Riku thinking he'll be safe from getting sprayed. Little does he know, his trick will backfire and both boys will get sprayed." She smiled. I started to grin.

"Oh, I like your thinking." I laughed taking the sodas. "Let's go."

Amanda and I walked outside where the music was blasting and people were mingling. Sora, Roxas, Cloud and Riku were standing off to the side talking together. Once they saw us though, they quickly stopped.

"Hey guys." Amanda smiled.

"Here." I handed Sora the sodas. "For you and Riku."

"How come we don't get anything?" Cloud scowled, crossing his arms. I watched Sora's eyes widen as he saw the 'R'. He passed it quickly over to Riku, smiling. He was trying to hold in his laughter.

"Because we didn't know you would be here. We'll get you one." Amanda reassured the other two. Her eyes were glued to Riku and so were Sora's and mine. Riku yawned as he popped the top of his can. Sprite shot out from the top and got all over his face. We all busted up laughing as Riku slowly squeegeed off his face with his hand. Little did the others know that it wasn't over yet. Sora was still laughing as Riku glared at him when he opened his can. The same exact thing happened to the little trickster. More people noticed this time and everyone began laughing at the boys. My stomach hurt from laughing.

"Got ya!" Amanda and I said at the same time.

"Now I'm all sticky!" Sora whined.

"It's all your fault, buddy," Riku started to laugh.

"You boys can go upstairs to take showers," my mom laughed walking up to us. "I'm sure Sora has extra clothes you can wear." Riku and Sora raced inside as they slipped all over.

"You guys are good," Roxas laughed holding his stomach. Amanda and I looked at each other, smiling.

"Thank you," I replied happily.

After almost an hour, everyone was calmed down and outside. I was sitting at the edge of the stage with the girls. We were talking about what the plans were for this summer and who was going where. Life could go anywhere from here and I was pretty sure I was ready now.

"What are the boys doing?" Alexa asked watching them across the lawn. They were all standing around together in some sort of huddle. We watched them for a little while when they started to head toward the stage.

"Are we ready to preform yet?" Cloud asked.

"Totally." Namine stood up and walked to the side of the stage. Sora, Cloud, Amanda, Riku, Selphie, Tidus, Roxas and I walked up stage and set up.

"Can we get your attention?" Sora said into the microphone. It fell silent and the music stopped. He smiled triumphantly. "Thank you. So I'd now like to begin our final performance as One Destiny. We've been together through so much and since everyone has different plans from here on out, this will be our official finale." The crowd cheered and all of our parents smiled.

To make things right, we began to play 'Graduation' by Vitamin C. We also played a few other selections that represented us as a group. About after the fifth song, Sora stopped and gathered everyone's attention once again. He took the microphone of the stand and walked to the edge of the stage. The rest of us stood where we were at.

"I'd like to tell you all a story about my life." Sora began. "Or more about my girlfriend, Kairi and myself."

"What?" I said to myself looking at Sora.

"So I met this shy little girl back in elementary school and instantly wanted to be friends with her. Even though she was shy, she seemed to have a great head on her shoulders. We talked more in middle school but it wasn't anything amazing because, me being a boy, I had other girls in mind. She was still a pretty good friend of mine though. One day, I remember her telling me that she was moving and I bought her a diary for her to write her thoughts in. While she was gone, I hadn't heard from her and neither had her friends. I figured I wouldn't see her ever again. Then, before 11th grade, people began to move in across the street and of course I was curious but I figured I'd wait a while before getting to meet my new neighbors. On the first day of school, I was having a bad day when I ran into this rather cute girl, but since I wasn't in my happiest of moods, I wasn't the most polite person alive. The same girl ended up being in my first period class and when I began to study her, the image of someone I missed deep down appeared. Ever since the first day of school last year, I've been wanting to know Kairi more and more. Love eventually grew between us and we've been together through the worst and best parts of life. She's been my everything and I love her to death." My emotions were all tangled as I heard Sora explain this to the crowd.

My mother was leaning against my father and he had his arms wrapped around her. They were both smiling and I noticed so was everyone else. Sora turned to face me and walked up to me. He stood next to me so the crowd could see us both clearly. Roxas walked up in between us and took the microphone from Sora who was reaching into his pocket. My stomach started to twist and turn and I could feel my face turning bright red. Emotion began to flow out of me as if it had been held in for years. Sora pulled out a box and got on one knee.

"Kairi Hikari," Sora said into the microphone that was being held down by Roxas. My hands immediately went to cover my face as I began to shake. '_Oh, my, god..._' I screamed into my head. The silence was killing me. I moved my hands down slightly to see Sora. He flipped open the box to reveal a silver ring with a purple heart and small diamonds off on both sides. "I've already asked your parents and was given permission. Will you always be my everything, forever and marry me?"

"Oh, my god, Sora! Yes!" I screamed. The emotion was so built up and I didn't mean to scream but I was so excited. Sora stood up and I jumped into his arms. Everyone clapped and cheered happily. I even heard a few people whistle. Tears were running down my face as all my friends quickly ran on stage to join the hug. Sora and I were squished together but he looked at me with a smile. (**A/N:** lol that wasn't surprising to like half my readers. You guys are good.)

"I love you, Kairi," he said loud enough for only me to hear.

"I love you, too, Sora," I said as he wiped a tear that ran down my cheek.

"Okay, I have one more thing to do," Sora said as everyone broke from the hug and was done congratulating us. "This song is what I dedicate to you." He looked directly at me. I wasn't aware of what song was about to be played but apparently everyone else did which had to mean that everyone knew what Sora had planned. "This is 'Follow Through' originally by Gavin Degraw."

So, since you wanna be with me

You'll have to follow through

With every word you say

And I, all I really want is you

you to stick around

I'll see you everyday

But you have to follow through

You have to follow through

These reeling emotions they just keep me alive

They keep me in tune

Oh, look what I'm holding here in my fire

This is for you

Am I too obvious to preach it

You're so hypnotic on my heart

So, since you wanna be with me

You'll have to follow through

With every word you say

And I, all I really want is you

you to stick around

I'll see you everyday

But you have to follow through

You have to follow through

You have to follow through

The words you say to me are unlike anything

That's ever been said

oh what you do to me is unlike anything

That's ever been

Am I too obvious to preach it?

You're so hypnotic on my heart

So since you wanna be with me

You'll have to follow through

With every word you say

And I, all I really want is you

you to stick around

I'll see you everyday

So since you wanna be with me

You'll have to follow through

With every word you say

And I, all I really want is you

you to stick around

I'll see you everyday

But you have to follow through

You have to follow through

You're gonna have to follow

Oh, this is the start of something good

Don't you agree?

"I can't believe you just did that." I smiled looking down at my new ring. I moved my promise ring onto my right ring finger. "You are amazing." He pulled me close by my waist as I put my arms around his neck.

"I'm so happy for you two!" Namine cheered. I smiled at her.

"So who knew about this anyway?" I asked.

"Let's see, all of the guys. Remember when I was acting funny before you ran away?" Sora looked at me before I nodded. "Well, it was because me and the guys were looking for rings. I've been planning this since my parents came for a visit back in March."

"Wow," I said in awe. How could I have been so blind not to see that coming. "Wow, I'm a little slow on things." I laughed.

"It's okay," Riku grinned before I hit him lightly.

"We've all known about it," Amanda said. "Well, the guys knew about it longer. We just found out about a week ago."

"Thanks guys," I said sarcastically.

"Well, we couldn't ruin the biggest surprise of your life, Kai!" Selphie said.

"I know," I smiled. "I wouldn't want it that way. I liked how it happened."

"Good," Sora said kissing my forehead. "And since we're still really young and we still should have a while to be the way we are, we'll get married in our twenties. When you're ready."

"You're the most amazing person," I said to Sora happily.

"I was hoping you'd say that." He laughed along with the others. My parents walked up to the stage. Soon, so were Sora's parents.

"I'm so happy for you." My mom had her arms open. Sora and I got off the stage and joined our parents in hugs.

"You take care of my daughter," my dad said smiling at Sora.

"Of course, sir," Sora replied.

"My baby is so grown up." His mother wept making Sora roll his eyes.

"Oh, geez, mom." He hugged her again.

"Well, we'll let you two celebrate some more with your friends. Tomorrow, the Hikari's and us are going to dinner to welcome each other to the family, so be ready at five," Mr. Hikaru said to us. Sora and I nodded. Our parents walked away when Shawn and Christy came up together hand in hand.

"We just wanted to tell you congratulations on the engagement," Shawn said.

"Thanks," Sora said extending his hand forward. Shawn shook it with a solemn smile. Christy let go of Shawn and hugged me.

"We also wanted to apologize for all that's happened between each other these last two years. It shouldn't have ever happened," she said.

"Same," I agreed.

"Well, I guess we'll see you around," Shawn said as he led Christy through the crowd.

"This sure has been one hell of a year," Cloud said. A waiter came by and we all reached for drinks.

"And life will never be the same either," Josh agreed.

"Well, here's to life after high school," Tidus said lifting his drink in the air. Sora looked over at me and smiled. His spare hand reached for mine.

"We finally did it," I smiled as we all joined our drinks in the air.

**A/N**: YAY! It's freaking finally finished! Wow, this was the fastest update every for Dear Diary 2 history. I loved this chapter and I'm so happy with how it turned out, I think because I've anticipated this chapter since the last chapter of Dear Diary. All of you who were loyal I love you, like seriously. It took me two years and you still stayed. Now that's being a true fan. Thank you!

**Twilight's Sanctuary**

**..Hott.**

**"a fan..."**

**A Serious Joke**

**Absh**

**Aeslin Hime**

**Aiko Moonchild**

**Alchemist-Zantazuken**

**"alexandra"**

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**"Angela"**

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**"Anonymous"**

**"AN ony mous"**

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**"Axel"**

**Becky13474**

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**"bludtherstEw0lf"**

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**cAiTlYn52**

**Calik**

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**"cathy"**

**chefbekah1304**

**"ChibiVixen"**

**chibibabi**

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**Dr. Gorso Ph.D.**

**"dragon9"**

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**Elizabeth M. Blackfeather**

**Ellie0223**

**"embereyes"**

**FallenxThrough**

**FlowerLady-Aerith**

**"gabi"**

**"gigi"**

**GTA Guy**

**Guardian of Destiny**

**H4ckerSephiroth**

**-Reborn**

**HappyBerry69**

**Harteramo**

**"hi"**

**"hugefan"**

**IcyPirateChic**

**IL0VEAnime65**

**iluvkingdomheartz**

**imjackie**

**ImperfectGirl123**

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**Iridaceae**

**i say sora plz**

**"J. Tong"**

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**Kaiora93**

**Kairi8013**

**Kairi and Cloud**

**"Kairi Osment"**

**"kara"**

**KaryuuNoHaneKata**

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**kingdom219**

**Kira-Kirah**

**KHfan4ever9**

**KHfreak1992**

**"KHPrincess31"**

**koiree**

**kuruneko**

**life-is-rubbish**

**Lili-sama**

**"lilsora06"**

**"little-miss-retha-grace" **

**Lord Xer**

**"Maia"**

**Masmo**

**Mayalen**

**mecherio**

**"Miracle-giver"**

**MiracleXofXlight**

**MissionRH24**

**MoonFlow-Kairi**

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**Mystery-Swordsman**

**"Naminefever"**

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**"Olivia"**

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**Paupu**

**"pheonix"**

**poppies in july**

**pure metal dude xD**

**RayneBowSkittlez**

**RebeL xxx**

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**"rockbeast212"**

**Roxas's Girl133**

**ruredy4sum9**

**Sakura3333**

**SakuraAngel6761**

**SaraixSoraxLover**

**"Saria"**

**"SexyKairi"**

**sexymonkey08**

**Scyithe**

**Sharinyakugan**

**sketched out love.**

**"SLy"**

**"somebodyscrush"**

**sora212**

**Sora's GuardianAngel**

**Sorafanluver**

**sorakairi forever**

**SORAxANDxKAIRIx4EVERx0508**

**SoraxKairi7**

**SupaNinja4Evah**

**SuperSelph1992**

**Swordbearer**

**"Terra"**

**That-luffly-lady**

**the cheat 921**

**"thecoconitkiwi"**

**The-Great-Ninja-Alexa2007**

**"TheOneWhichExistsNot"**

**The Reaper of Love**

**thesrazrbladekisses**

**"Courtney"**

**Towairaito Suriru**

**Unholy Matrimony**

**"vin"**

**"WHIZCUZ"**

**"Who is this sora guy"**

**""**

**x-lazza**

**xFadingMoonx**

**xMyxChemicalxRomancex**

**YANAGii-KOiiBiiTOU**

**"Yukixtohru"**

_Dear Diary 3: Unwritten_ will be up soon. Don't forget that there is a dear diary series website (you can find the link on my profile) there are news bulletins that you can find in "Progress". Thank you again to my lovely reviewers and readers. See you soon on the FINAL dear diary story.


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